U.S. Army Medical Department journal
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The civilian trauma literature suggests that the sexes differ in physical and mental health outcomes following traumatic injury. In order to determine if the reaction to combat injury is different between the sexes in a specific war wounded population, service members with amputations, we examined the disability profiles of male and female amputees. ⋯ Outside of variable occupational descriptions, both male and female amputees were exposed to explosions resulting in their injuries. Consistent with many civilian trauma and veterans' population studies, female amputees have higher frequencies of disability from PTSD. These results support the need for additional effort and attention directed towards optimizing physical and mental fitness following deployment in order to reduce disability and promote return to duty. Because certain conditions, such as PTSD, may be more or less common in men versus women veterans, postdeployment fitness may need to be tailored in a gender specific way.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of female and male casualty cohorts from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although there has been interest in the literature regarding the casualties within the recent US military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, very little to date has looked specifically at a difference between the sexes. As the role of the female Soldier has changed over the years, so have the risk and the nature of the female casualty. Combat injuries in women are an important medical consideration that has yet to be studied. ⋯ Women comprised 2.75% of the DoDTR casualties during the studied time frame and were less likely to be involved in explosions or during battle. The ISS were significantly different when comparing battle and nonbattle injuries for both of the sexes. However, since men were more likely to be injured in battle, their total ISS mean was higher.