By the Numbers - January 7, 2013
17,000,000
67,000
635,000
Respectively, the excess number of "ambulatory visits," hospitalizations, and hospital "bed days" among active duty service members that have occurred since the beginning of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars "than would have occurred if the pre-war experience had continued," according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, An article in the November 2012 issue of the Center's Medical Surveillance Monthly Report -- Costs of War: Excess Health Care Burdens During the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Relative to the Health Care Experience Pre-War) -- estimates, in numerical detail, "the health care burden related to war fighting." Note that mental health disorders were responsible for much of the excess military health care utilization:
From the pre-war to the war period, mental disorders accounted for the largest illness/injury-specific increases in rates of ambulatory visits, hospitalizations, and hospital bed days. During the war period (relative to the expected based on pre-war experience), mental disorders accounted for more than six million excess ambulatory visits, nearly 42,000 excess hospitalizations, and more than 300,000 excess hospital bed days. Remarkably, mental disorders accounted for 35 percent, 63 percent, and 48 percent of the total estimated excesses of ambulatory visits, hospitalizations, and hospital bed days, respectively, during the war period.
17,000,000
67,000
635,000
Respectively, the excess number of "ambulatory visits," hospitalizations, and hospital "bed days" among active duty service members that have occurred since the beginning of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars "than would have occurred if the pre-war experience had continued," according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, An article in the November 2012 issue of the Center's Medical Surveillance Monthly Report -- Costs of War: Excess Health Care Burdens During the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Relative to the Health Care Experience Pre-War) -- estimates, in numerical detail, "the health care burden related to war fighting." Note that mental health disorders were responsible for much of the excess military health care utilization:
From the pre-war to the war period, mental disorders accounted for the largest illness/injury-specific increases in rates of ambulatory visits, hospitalizations, and hospital bed days. During the war period (relative to the expected based on pre-war experience), mental disorders accounted for more than six million excess ambulatory visits, nearly 42,000 excess hospitalizations, and more than 300,000 excess hospital bed days. Remarkably, mental disorders accounted for 35 percent, 63 percent, and 48 percent of the total estimated excesses of ambulatory visits, hospitalizations, and hospital bed days, respectively, during the war period.