Do veterans of the Vietnam War experience different health outcomes as they age?

挑战

To better understand and meet the health needs of veterans who served during the Vietnam era (the early 1960s to the mid-1970s), 美国.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) conducted a large, national study that will compare veterans’ health to the health of people their age who did not serve in the military. The VA teamed up with 趣赢平台 to conduct the study, called the Vietnam Era Health Retrospective Observational Study (VE-HEROeS).

解决方案

我们设计了这个研究, including participant selection criteria, 调查问卷, 数据收集方法, 和更多的. 关于 12,000 veterans and 4,500 non-veterans participated in the study.

The study participants included veterans who served in Vietnam and those who served during the same time period but not in Vietnam, as well as members of 美国.S. that did not serve in the military.

The mailed survey asked veterans and non-veterans about their physical and mental health, military and occupational exposures, 和生活方式. The survey also asked about whether the veteran’s service was exclusively in the deep coastal waters off of Vietnam, 叫做“蓝水海军”,” and tried to describe the current health of this particular subgroup.

我们向2发送了请求,000 to consent to review of their medical records to confirm the self-reported cases of neurological conditions and hepatitis C.

We worked with the VA research team to analyze the findings and prepare a final methodology report and related journal articles.

结果

The study findings will be used by

• Veterans and their families who have questions about the long-term health effects of service during the Vietnam War
• Clinicians who care for veterans and lack sufficient evidence to explain their health conditions
• The VA health care system, which seeks to improve the veterans’ health care, 预防服务, and compensation benefits, and to anticipate their future needs