War Syndromes from 1900 to the Present: Symptom Patterns and Longterm Health Outcomes.

Abstract

This report summarises the research undertaken in the second year (9 February 1999 to 8 February 2000) of the Study into War Syndromes from 1900' . The project was designed to answer two questions: 1. Whether soldiers suffering from post-combat syndromes in different wars at different time experience the same or similar clusters of symptoms. 2. Whether the morbidity and mortality rates of servicemen with post-combat syndromes are greater than a control population of veterans with equivalent levels of physical disability. To answer the first question, a methodology was designed to compare randomly-selected samples of soldiers drawn from three campaigns suffering from characteristic functional illnesses. There were to be 200 men in each group and two disorders for each war. For the Boer War the disorders identified were Disordered Action of the Heart (DAH) and psychogenic rheumatism. For the First World War, DAH and shell shock (or neurasthenia as it was later re-categorised) were chosen and for the Second World War non-ulcer dyspepsia and psychoneurosis were included. In addition, smaller samples for the Korean War and the campaign in Malaya have been selected for comparison. These cases will then be contrasted with a random sample of UK servicemen in treatment for Gulf War syndrome.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA378974

Entities

People

  • Ian P. Palmer

Organizations

  • King's College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Diseases And Disorders
  • First World War
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Intestinal Diseases
  • Materials
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Hospitals
  • Military Medicine
  • Neurotic Disorders
  • Pain
  • Physical Disabilities
  • Physicians
  • Poisoning
  • Psychiatry
  • Second World War
  • Statistical Samples

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies