Shipboard medical admissions during peacetime and combat support deployments.

Hospitalizations aboard aircraft carriers were examined to ascertain differences in illness type attributable to theater of operations and combat deployment status. Percentage distributions and lengths-of-stay statistics of major diagnostic categories are provided and compared between Vietnam combat support and peacetime modes of operations and between Western Pacific and Mediterranean theaters of operations. Respiratory disease proportions were found to be significantly higher for Vietnam combat support deployments than during subsequent peacetime deployments. For peacetime deployments, the Western Pacific deployments had higher percentages of infective, respiratory, and skin disorders, whereas the Mediterranean theater had a larger proportion of total admissions accounted for by accidents.