A Longitudinal Study of Disease Incidence Among Antarctic Winter-Over Personnel

Abstract

A longitudinal perspective was employed to test the hypothesis that there is an increased risk of hospitalization among Antarctic winter-over personnel during the first year subsequent to this duty. Subjects were 327 enlisted Navy men who wintered-over between 1963 and 1974 and a control group of 2,396 enlisted men who volunteered and were accepted for winter-over duty but who did not winter-over. A 15-year period from 1965 to 1979 was established for follow-up. Follow-up of subjects subsequent to screening for Operation Deep Freeze was conducted in 6-month intervals for the first 4 years. Results indicated that the total rates of first hospitalization during the 6 months prior to Antarctic duty and the first 6 months in Antarctica among winter-over personnel were significantly lower than the rates for the control group. No significant difference in the rates of the two groups was observed for the 12 months subsequent to winter-over duty. Reprints.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA211011

Entities

People

  • Lawrence A Palinkas

Organizations

  • Naval Health Research Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Antarctica
  • Biomedical Research
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Environment
  • Extreme Environments
  • Health
  • Health Services
  • Hospitalizations
  • Human Behavior
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Information Systems
  • Intervals
  • Medical Personnel
  • Patient Care
  • Security
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

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