Military medicine
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Although women have always served in the U.S. Armed Forces, it has only been in the last half century that systematic examinations have been done on the health issues experienced by military women. Still, little is known about how occupational health risks among Navy divers might vary between men and women. Our objective was to use available data to examine health issues among all separating divers and then determine how prevalence rates varied between men and women for diagnoses made within the diver's last year of active duty service. ⋯ The findings of much higher relative risks for women for conditions such as genitourinary disease, skin conditions, and acute respiratory infections require follow-up research to look for causes and potential risk reduction interventions. Future research must determine specific and relative risks as a necessary precursor to developing, implementing, and testing potentially sex-specific risk reduction and health improvement interventions.
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A Clinical Decision Support System that provides just-in-time medical guidance at the point of injury is being developed. To develop a user interface, a user-centered design approach was taken. ⋯ Through multiple different evaluations, design recommendations for a clinical decision support system were implemented in an iterative process. More iterations and more formalized user testing are planned to maximize the usability of the system.
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Because brain regions are responsible for specific functions, regional damage may cause specific, predictable symptoms. However, the existing brain injury criteria focus on whole brain response. This study developed and validated a detailed human brain computational model with sufficient fidelity to include regional components and demonstrate its feasibility to obtain region-specific brain strains under selected loading. ⋯ Recognizing that neural functions are related to anatomical structures and most model-based injury metrics focus on whole brain response, this study developed an anatomically accurate human brain model to capture regional responses. Model validation was comparable with current models. The model provided sufficient anatomical detail to describe brain regional responses under different impact conditions.
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The USA is experiencing an opioid epidemic. Active duty service members (ADSMs) are at risk for opioid use disorder (OUD). The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted health care and introduced additional stressors. ⋯ Rates of OUD and MOUD decreased, whereas rates of opioid rescue medication increased during the study period. Opioid OD rates did not significantly change in this study. Changes in the DoD policy may be affecting rates with greater effect than COVID-19 pandemic effects.
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Every year, approximately 35,000 recruits enter the United States Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT). Musculoskeletal problems are particularly vexing for BMT because a broad array of differentials render definitive diagnosis burdensome and while most sufferers will fully recover, healing often requires protracted training delays resulting in increased unrecoverable training costs to the program. The purpose of this study is to conduct a case-control study of basic military trainees entering service from 2012 to 2015 to assess detectable differences in demographics, retention, and health care utilization. ⋯ Trainees who suffered a bone stress injury (BSI) during the United States Air Force BMT advanced in rank on par with trainees who did not, but BSI sufferers exhibited greater health care utilization than those who did not suffer BSI. The cost to replace a trainee unable to complete BMT is considerable; however, it is also important to consider the reduction in resiliency and readiness to the Department of Defense and the financial burdens from increased health care utilization. The 2-fold increase in BSI presentation in the graduated control group reflects that more needs to be done for all populations to identify better proactive efforts to foundationally support wellness and prevention rather than accept injury as the status quo.