Long-Term Psychological and Physical Health Outcomes Following Military Deployment: The Veterans After-Discharge Longitudinal Registry (Project VALOR)
Abstract
Overall Project: Long-Term Psychological and Physical Health Outcomes Following Military Deployment: The Veterans After-Discharge Longitudinal Registry (Project VALOR) Background: This proposal is designed to address Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health Research Program Understand Focus Area. This is research that aims to address knowledge gaps in foundational science, epidemiology, and etiology of psychological health conditions and/or traumatic brain injury. Since 2001, more than 2 million U.S. Service Members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of post-9/11 conflicts. More than two decades of war have taken a staggering toll on Service Members; more than 7,000 U.S. Service Members have died in post-9/11 conflicts, more than 20,000 have been physically injured, and more than 30,000 U.S. Service Members and Veterans who served in post-9/11 conflicts have died by suicide. Costs to provide care for Veterans of post-9/11 conflicts are estimated at $2.2 to $2.5B. Longitudinal cohort studies (i.e., research studies that follow the same group of research participants over an extended period of time) have been critically important to improving our understanding of the impacts of deployment experiences on psychosocial and physical health outcomes, as well as factors that amplify or diminish these impacts. However, numerous critical gaps remain, including poor understanding of a) long-term posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom course, b) recovery from PTSD, c) long-term patterns in related psychosocial phenomena (e.g., suicide risk, functioning), d) sex differences in long-term deployment consequences, e) long-term impacts of deployment experiences on physical health, f) long-term impacts of military sexual trauma, harassment, and discrimination, and g) interactions among risk and resilience factors in predicting long-term outcomes. The specific aims of this project are to address these gaps in our understanding of long-term patterns of adverse psychological and physical health outcomes following deployment, recovery from these outcomes, and predictors thereof among a nationwide sample of female and male Veterans. To accomplish this, we will extend prior research conducted using the Veterans After-Discharge Longitudinal Registry (Project VALOR), a Department of Defense-funded longitudinal cohort of 1,649 men and women who deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq as part of post-9/11 conflicts and subsequently utilized Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services. To date, Project VALOR participants have completed assessments on 5 occasions over ~7 years. Research Plan: The proposed study would collect additional data in a series of additional, related projects to better understand: A. Long-term impacts of deployment on psychosocial outcomes (e.g., PTSD, employment functioning, marriage quality, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts) B. Long-term impacts of deployment on physical health outcomes (e.g., coronary heart disease, cardiometabolic risk factors) C. More accurately understand how pre-deployment (e.g., childhood abuse), peri-deployment (e.g., traumatic brain injury), post-deployment (e.g., reintegration experiences), and biological (e.g., polygenic risk scores) factors impact each other to more accurately understand the impact of risk and resilience factors D. Understanding experiences reporting sexual assault and harassment and identifying barriers and facilitators to reporting Impact and Relevance to Military Health: This proposal is relevant to the Understand focus area as this series of projects seeks to address knowledge gaps in foundational science, epidemiology, and etiology of psychological health conditions and traumatic brain injury. Results will have critical, direct implications for VHA policy and planning. The central focus of this application and each specific project are to better understand t
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2024
- Source ID
- HT94252310828
Entities
People
- Brian P Marx
Organizations
- Boston VA Research Institute
- United States Army