Mental health outcomes among recent US warfighters with traumatic, combat-related amputations

This research describes mental health outcomes of US warfighters returning from Iraq/Afghanistan with traumatic amputations. The prevailing mechanisms of injury leading to amputation, specifically blasts and explosions, appear to cause particularly severe and complicated physical and psychological wounds unique to this recent military population. Recent studies using information self-reported by these warfighters on perceived mental health issues have found that combat injuries are associated with increased risk of anxiety, depression, and/or posttraumatic stress disorder. These amputees are young, most under 30 years of age, in good health before injury, and have considerable potential for rehabilitation. However, there has been little research using objective databases to document mental health diagnoses and health care use for this population. The present study will describe short-term mental health outcomes for recent military amputees using Department of Defense databases developed at Naval Health Research Center, namely the Navy Marine Corps Combat Trauma Registry and the Career History Archival Medical Personnel System. Each individual's medical records will be followed for as long as 24 months after the time of battlefield amputation. The results for the group of amputees will be compared with warfighters who did not experience amputation but had other similar injuries, and with a group of warfighters with similar combat experience without significant injury. These comparisons will indicate how combat-related amputations may be associated with later mental health diagnoses.