@article{ref1,
title="Clinical and demographic factors associated with employment status in US military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan",
journal="Work",
year="2013",
author="Cohen, Sara I. and Suri, Pradeep and Amick, Melissa M. and Yan, Kun",
volume="44",
number="2",
pages="213-219",
abstract="Objective: To determine the association between clinical and demographic factors with employment status in post-deployment US military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Participants: 169 OIF/OEF veterans seen at a post-deployment clinic between December of 2009 and May of 2010. Methods: Data was collected retrospectively on employment status, age, marital status, gender, pre-deployment education, ratings of sleep disturbance, pain, and depression, and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or PTSD diagnosis. Results: Unemployment was highly prevalent in this sample (45%). Of the demographic and clinical factors examined, only a self-report of global depression severity was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of unemployment in multivariate analysis (odds ratio [OR] 0.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.10-0.47). Age greater than 40 demonstrated a positive association with employment status that was of borderline statistical significance ([OR] 2.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0-8.1). Prior diagnoses of mTBI or PTSD, and current sleep or pain symptoms, were not associated with employment status. Conclusions: Individuals with more severe self-reported depression had a higher prevalence of unemployment. Future prospective studies are needed to better understand which factors determine employment status in returning veterans.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1051-9815",
doi="10.3233/WOR-2012-1417",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/WOR-2012-1417"
}