TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Risk factors for medical disability in U.S. enlisted Marines: fiscal years 2001 to 2009
JO  - Military medicine
A1  - Sikorski, Cynthia
A1  - Emerson, Maura A.
A1  - Cowan, David N.
A1  - Niebuhr, David W.
SP  - 128
EP  - 134
VL  - 177
IS  - 2
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To assess factors associated with medical disability in the U.S. Marine Corps. METHODS: Case-control study enrolling 11,554 medical disability cases of U.S. enlisted Marines referred to the Physical Evaluation Board fiscal year 2001 to 2009 and 42,216 controls frequency matched to cases in a 4:1 ratio on year of accession into the service were analyzed utilizing bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Increased age and body mass index at accession were associated with higher odds of medical disability. Females (odds ratio adjusted [OR(adj)] = 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-1.3) have higher odds of disability than males. "Healthy Warrior Effect" was observed in that those who deployed (OR(adj) = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.46-0.50) had decreased odds of medical disability than those who did not deploy. Medical waivers at accession (OR(adj) = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.01-1.23) increased the odds of medical disability. CONCLUSIONS: Continued surveillance of the disability evaluation system is needed to help develop preventive measures and to help policy makers establish evidence-based policies on accession, deployment, and retention standards over the lifecycle of service members.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0026-4075
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -