Value of surveys to identify modifiable causes and risk factors for injuries in hard to follow populations: Example from deployed male US army soldiers

Injuries are a leading health problem for the US Army, but knowledge concerning deployment-related injuries is limited. Purpose: Identify modifiable injury risk factors for male U.S. Army Soldiers during deployment. Methods: Participants were 1,960 males from a light infantry brigade who recently returned from deployment. Personal characteristics, physical activity, health risk behaviors and injury during deployment were collected by questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: Participants were 27.5±5.8 years of age. Injury incidence during deployment was 30.4% with 74.2% of injuries being new injuries. Activities in which an injury occurred included: Lifting or moving heavy objects (19.9%), walking, hiking, or marching (19.7%), Unit physical training (15.7%), stepping or climbing (10.6%) and sports/recreation (4.1%). Older, heavier males had a higher risk of injury compared to younger Soldiers and Soldiers within normal weight limits (OR(31 years or older/younger than 22 years)= 1.80, 95%CI 1.20-2.69) and (OR(Obese/Normal)= 2.17, 95%CI 1.40-3.36), respectively. Deployed males averaging 7 or more miles per day foot patrolling had a higher injury risk than those averaging 2 or less miles per day (OR(7or more/2 or less)= 2.23, 95%CI 1.40-3.56). In addition, results suggested that those participating in sports 3 or more times per week were less likely to be injured than those participating less than 3 times per week (OR(3 or more/less than3)= 0.65, 95%CI 0.41-1.05). Conclusions: BMI, foot patrol distance, and sports participation are modifiable injury risk factors among deployed male Army Soldiers.