COLD WEATHER INJURY HOSPITALIZATION AMONG CAUCASIAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN AND WOMEN IN THE U. S. ARMY 1980???1999

Abstract

Cold weather injuries (CWI) are of great military concern due to their wide-ranging impact on military readiness, and it is suggested that African-American (AA) men sustain more CWI than Caucasians (C). It is unknown what the incidence of CWI is in women. PURPOSE Determine the incidence of CWI hospitalizations for African-American and Caucasian men (M) and women (W) in the U. S. Army from 1980–1999. METHODS The USARIEM Total Army Injury and Health Outcomes Database was searched for hospitalizations with ICD-9-CM codes for frostbite, hypothermia, immersion foot, chilblains, and other. Available information concerning each soldier included: gender, age, ethnicity, rank, occupation, type of injury, and principle diagnosis. Data was available on the demographic composition of the Army, by year, and was used as the denominator when calculating incidence rates. RESULTS There were 2,143 hospitalizations due to CWI, with 2005 cases occurring among Caucasians and African-Americans. Injury rates, per 100,000 soldiers, were as follows: CM: 8.79; AAM: 31.24; CW: 9.31; AAW: 21.72. CONCLUSIONS Our data are consistent with previous research indicating that African-American men were injured ∼3.5 times as often as their Caucasian counterparts. Furthermore African-American women sustained CWI at 2.5 times the rate of Caucasian women. These data suggest that racial differences exist in CWI risk between both men and women.