Researchers working with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have found that post-traumatic stress disorder, the current most common mental disorder among veterans returning from service in the Middle East, is associated with an increased risk for thoughts of suicide.
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Because tobacco use impairs military readiness, harms the health of soldiers and veterans, and imposes a substantial financial burden on the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, these agencies should implement a comprehensive strategy to achieve the Defense Department's stated goal of a tobacco-free military, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.
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Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to have metabolic syndrome than veterans without PTSD, according to a study led by Pia Heppner, Ph.D., psychologist with the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs of San Diego, VA Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health (CESAMH).
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"The increasing number of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) raises the risk of domestic violence and its consequences on families and children in communities across the United States," says Monica Matthieu, Ph.D., an expert on veteran mental health and an assistant professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.
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Election 2008, a recent survey by Harvard Opinion Research Program at Harvard School of Public Health and Harris Interactive® finds that a majority of Americans (62%) believe that wounded Iraq war veterans do not receive high quality care in military and Veteran’s Administration hospitals once they return to the U.S. Similar majorities feel that veterans requiring rehabilitation care and mental health care do not receive high quality care (62% and 65% respectively).
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On May 6th The Common Ills notes the House House Committee on Veterans' Affairs hearing entitled "The Truth About Veterans' Suicides." Where is it in the morning papers? Lisa Mascaro covers it in "
House committee targets VA on suicides" (Las Vegas Sun) and notes that Rep Shelley Berkley waived her time to allow the questioning of witnesses to begin:
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A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine shows there is increasing evidence that high rates of illness in Persian Gulf War Veterans can be explained, in part, by exposure to certain chemicals, including pesticides and nerve agents.
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For U.S. veterans with diabetes, lower scores on a test of mental health functioning are associated with an increased risk of major amputations, reports a study in the November/December issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.
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Five years post-conflict, individuals who served in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War were 25 percent more likely to visit an emergency department than veterans of the same era who were not deployed, but were no more likely to have a hospital stay or an outpatient visit, according to a study appearing in the December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
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Canada’s peacekeepers suffer similar rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) as combat, war-zone soldiers, according to a London, Ont. research team.
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The largest and most up-to-date study of suicides among depressed veterans provides important new data that may help guide screening and treatment for all veterans.
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Controversy continues to swirl concerning the findings of a landmark study that estimated the percentage of Vietnam veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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