Orthopedic injuries found to be a leading reason soldiers are declared unfit for active duty

NEW ORLEANS — New evidence regarding why soldiers may be deemed unfit to return to active duty was the focus of a study presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, here.

“Almost 9% of soldiers post-deployment were found unfit for duty,” Philip J. Belmont Jr., MD, said in his presentation.

The investigation consisted of a prospective longitudinal cohort study of the U.S. Army brigade combat team that included 4,122 soldiers deployed to Iraq for 15 months. Belmont and colleagues classified the injuries the soldiers sustained by mechanism of injury, body system involved, age, sex and rank. A soldier’s ability to return to active duty was ultimately determined by the medical evaluation board, according to the study results.

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Belmont and colleagues determined that 331 of the surviving soldiers sustained war trauma, 163 soldiers sustained a musculoskeletal battle injury and 587 soldiers had musculoskeletal injuries that were not battle-related.

Of those studied, 374 soldiers (9.2%) were deemed unfit to return to active duty within 4 years of deployment, 63% were deemed unfit due to an orthopedic condition and 59% of them were unfit to return to duty due to a psychiatric disorder. The most common conditions associated with a medical discharge in these individuals were post-traumatic stress disorder, low back pain and traumatic brain injury. Half of all orthopedic disorders reported corresponded to a simultaneous psychiatric condition.

“Orthopedic diagnoses represented half of the ten most common unfitting conditions for the entire [study] population,” Belmont said. – by Christian Ingram

Reference:

Belmont P. Paper #140. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 11-15, 2015; New Orleans.

Disclosure: Belmont receives royalties, financial or material support from SLACK, Inc.