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Abstract #148416

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Hope Tiesman, PhD, MSPH¹, Corinne Peek-Asa, PhD, MPH², Craig Zwerling, PhD, MD, MPH², Jingzhen Yang, PhD, MPH³, and Paul J. Amoroso, MD, MPH⁴. (1) Division of Safety Research, CDC/NIOSH, 1095 Willowdale Road M/S 1811, Morgantown, WV 26505, 304-285-6067, htiesman@cdc.gov, (2) Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, 124 IREH, 100 Oakdale Campus, Iowa City, IA 52242, (3) Community and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, E236GH, Iowa City, IA 52242, (4) Madigan Army Medical Center, ATTN: MCHJ-CI, Tacoma, WA 98431-1100

Purpose: Injuries to military women outside of BASIC training or in non-occupational settings have not been well documented. This study compares occupational and non-occupational injuries between male and female US Army soldiers by examining hospitalization rates for injuries occurring in the first 11 months of service.

Methods: The US Army's Total Army Injury & Health Outcomes Database was searched for hospitalized injuries (codes 800-989.8) occurring to active-duty Army personnel between 1992-2002. Characteristics of injuries occurring while on-duty, off-duty, and during scheduled training were compared between the genders. Injury rates were calculated using Army population data.

Results: Included were 5,678 soldiers with an injury hospitalization rate of 14.6/1,000 soldiers. Women were significantly more likely than men to experience an injury during scheduled training (25% and 12%, p<0.0001). There were no differences between the genders in the frequency of off-duty injuries (16% men, 15% women, p=0.23); however, men were more likely to get injured due to sports/athletics (p=0.001) and due to fighting (p=0.017) while off-duty. Women had significantly longer average hospital stays compared to men for injuries occurring during scheduled training (p=0.002). Men had longer average hospital stays for off-duty injuries (men=7.6 days, women=5.9 days; p=0.22). Even though women generally had longer average hospital stays, they did not have more severe injuries as measured by ISS.

Conclusions: Physical training scenarios are the most dangerous injury risk period for military women. Attention should be paid to reducing men's off-duty injuries as they are more severe and require longer hospital stays than on-duty injuries.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the US Army's Total Army Injury and Health Outcomes Database and its unique advantages in the collection and coding of injury data
• Compare leading causes of injury between men and women while on-duty, off-duty, and during scheduled physical training in the US Army
• Discuss implications for future research on gender differences in military injuries and potential prevention messages

Keywords: Gender, Injury Risk

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording