Health Status of Vietnam Veterans. Volume 1. Synopsis

摘要

The results of the Vietnam Experience Study (VES), which looked for adverse health effects among men who had served in Vietnam, are summarized here. A random sample of 9,324 U.S. Army enlisted men who had served a single tour in Vietnam and 8,989 who had served elsewhere was used; all had been discharged alive after a single enlistment starting in 1965-1971. The VES had four components: mortality assessment, telephone interview, medical and psychological examination, and a reproductive outcome assessment. In the mortality component the vital status of all but 7% of the men was ascertained during the first 5 years after discharge, the Vietnam group had 45% excess deaths, but thereafter the death rates in the two groups were about the same. In the telephone interview component, the main findings were broad similarities between the two groups in current demographic and social characteristics, with more than 80% of both groups reporting that they were in good health. In the examination component, results of physical and laboratory examinations showed few differences between the two groups. The reproductive outcome component did not document a greater risk among children of Vietnam veterans for all types of birth defects combined.