National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans and Utah State University Department of Psychology, 2810 Old Main Hill St, Logan, UT 84322-2810, USA.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2012;9:E45. Epub 2012 Jan 26.
Understanding the prevalence of and risk for homelessness among veterans is prerequisite to preventing and ending homelessness among this population. Homeless veterans are at higher risk for chronic disease; understanding the dynamics of homelessness among veterans can contribute to our understanding of their health needs.
We obtained data on demographic characteristics and veteran status for 130,554 homeless people from 7 jurisdictions that provide homelessness services, and for the population living in poverty and the general population from the American Community Survey for those same jurisdictions. We calculated prevalence of veterans in the homeless, poverty, and general populations, and risk ratios (RR) for veteran status in these populations. Risk for homelessness, as a function of demographic characteristics and veteran status, was estimated by using multivariate regression models.
Veterans were overrepresented in the homeless population, compared with both the general and poverty populations, among both men (RR, 1.3 and 2.1, respectively) and women (RR, 2.1 and 3.0, respectively). Veteran status and black race significantly increased the risk for homelessness for both men and women. Men in the 45- to 54-year-old age group and women in the 18- to 29-year-old age group were at higher risk compared with other ages.
Our findings confirm previous research associating veteran status with higher risk for homelessness and imply that there will be specific health needs among the aging homeless population. This study is a basis for understanding variation in rates of, and risks for, homelessness in general population groups, and inclusion of health data from US Department of Veterans Affairs records can extend these results to identifying links between homelessness and health risks.
了解退伍军人的无家可归现象的普遍性和风险是预防和结束这一人群无家可归现象的前提。无家可归的退伍军人患慢性病的风险更高；了解退伍军人无家可归的动态有助于我们了解他们的健康需求。
我们从 7 个提供无家可归者服务的司法管辖区获得了 130554 名无家可归者的人口统计特征和退伍军人身份数据，以及这些司法管辖区的美国社区调查中贫困人口和一般人口的数据。我们计算了无家可归者、贫困人口和一般人群中退伍军人的比例，以及这些人群中退伍军人身份的风险比（RR）。通过使用多变量回归模型，估计了退伍军人身份对无家可归风险的影响。
与一般人群和贫困人口相比，退伍军人在男性（RR 分别为 1.3 和 2.1）和女性（RR 分别为 2.1 和 3.0）中无家可归者群体中所占比例过高。退伍军人身份和黑人种族显著增加了男性和女性无家可归的风险。与其他年龄段相比，45 至 54 岁的男性和 18 至 29 岁的女性风险更高。
我们的研究结果证实了之前的研究，即退伍军人身份与更高的无家可归风险相关，并暗示在老龄化无家可归人群中存在特定的健康需求。本研究是了解一般人群群体中无家可归率和风险差异的基础，并且从美国退伍军人事务部记录中包含健康数据可以扩展这些结果，以确定无家可归和健康风险之间的联系。
