Medical Surveillance Monthly Report (MSMR). Volume 15, Number 3, April 2008
Abstract
Perceptions of the relative "importance" of various conditions in military populations often determine the natures, extents, and priorities for resources for primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention activities. However, perceptions of the importance of conditions are inherently subjective; hence, they may have weak relationships with objective measures of their impacts on health, fitness, military operational effectiveness, health care costs, and so on. Several classification systems and morbidity measures have been developed to quantify the "public health burdens" that are attributable to various illnesses and injuries in defined populations and settings. Not surprisingly, different classification systems and morbidity measures lead to different rankings of illness and injury-specific public health burdens. For example, in a given population and setting, the illnesses and injuries that account for the most hospitalizations are likely different from those that account for the most outpatient medical encounters; and the illnesses and injuries that account for the most medical encounters overall likely differ from those that affect the most individuals, have the most debilitating or long-lasting effects, and so on. Thus, in a given population and setting, the classification system or measure that is used to quantify condition-specific morbidity burdens determines to a large extent the conclusions that may be drawn regarding the relative "importance" of various conditions - and, in turn, the resources that may be indicated to prevent or minimize their impacts. This annual summary uses several measures to estimate the health care burdens that were attributable to various illnesses and injuries among members of the U.S. Armed Forces in 2007.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA496191
Entities
Organizations
- Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center