Mental and physical health, and long-term quality of life among service members injured on deployment

Abstract

BackgroundMore than 52,000 casualties have been documented in post-9/11 conflicts. Service members with extremity injuries (EIs) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be at particular risk for long-term deficits in mental and physical health functioning compared with service members with other injuries.MethodsThe present study combined medical records with patient reports of mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for 2,537 service members injured in overseas contingency operations who participated in the Wounded Warrior Recovery Project. Combined parallel-serial mediation models were tested to examine the pathways through which injury is related to mental and physical health conditions, and long-term HRQOL.ResultsResults revealed that injury was indirectly related to long-term HRQOL via its associations with physical health complications and mental health symptoms. Relative to TBI, EI was associated with a higher likelihood for a postinjury diagnosis for a musculoskeletal condition, which were related to lower levels of later posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and higher levels of physical and mental HRQOL. Similarly, EI was related to a lower likelihood for a postinjury PTSD diagnosis, and lower levels of subsequent PTSD symptoms, and therefore higher physical and mental HRQOL relative to those with TBI. Despite this, the prevalence of probable PTSD among those with EI was high (35%). Implications for intervention, rehabilitation, and future research are discussed.