Veteran Status and Its Impact on Health Risk Indicators, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2008

Background: Currently, there are an estimated 24,900,000 veterans in the United States. There are approximately 2.95 million veterans receiving VA disability compensation. Of those, approximately 261,897 are classified as 100% disabled. Since the wars in the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan, there has been an increase in the reporting of illness symptomatology and negative health outcomes among U. S. veterans returning from these combat zones. Because these health-related illnesses often persist long after discharge from active duty, the overall health status of veterans could be impacted.

In order to respond to the increasing health needs of veterans, policy-makers, preventive health programs, and providers of health services to veterans, must have data available with which to base allocation of limited resources to make the most impact of this growing population.

Objectives: The objectives of this project were to: 1) describe the health status of veterans residing in the U.S.; 2) compare specific health risk behaviors among veterans and non-veterans; and, 3) determine if veteran status impacts the prevalence of specific health indicators while adjusting for age.

Methods: Data from the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) were analyzed using SAS® v9.2 and SUDAAN® 903. Prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed for selected health status indicators and risk behaviors using Taylor Series (WR) variance estimation models. Veteran status was defined as having served on active duty in the U.S. armed forces either in the regular army or in the National Guard or reserve unit. Comparisons were made between veterans (n=56,076) and non-veterans (n=358,062) using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (X2) chi-square statistic.

Results: Significant differences were observed between veterans and non-veterans in several specific health-related illnesses. Veterans were more likely than non-veterans to have been diagnosed as diabetic (14.4%, 13.9-14.9; 8.1%, 7.9-8.2); have limited activity due to physical, mental or emotional problems (28.2%, 27.5-28.9; 19.3%, 19.0-19.5); require use of special equipment (12.5%, 12.0-13.0; 6.8%, 6.7-6.9); be overweight (45.6%, 44.8-46.5; 35.0%, 34.7-36.4); diagnosed with angina or coronary heart disease (14.5%, 14.0-15.1; 6.6%, 6.4-6.8); and, diagnosed with a heart attack (14.6%, 14.0-15.1; 6.3%, 6.1-6.5).

Conclusions: Veterans were more likely than non-veterans to have higher estimated prevalence of specific health status and risk indicators. Providers of health care for veterans should strive to address at-risk behaviors in order to implement preventive strategies to reduce the impact of these behaviors on the overall health status of U.S. veterans.