Krull Heather, Farmer Carrie M, Rennane Stephanie, Goldstein Evan, Armour Philip, Ruder Teague
Rand Health Q. 2022 Jun 30;9(3):22. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Since 2001, more than 3 million service members have deployed in support of multiple combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other theaters. Many have been diagnosed with the ""signature wounds"" of these conflicts: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI). During the intervening years, the process by which service members are evaluated for disability has evolved significantly, including a complete overhaul of the Disability Evaluation System (DES) beginning in 2007. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the services made policy changes and initiated other efforts to improve screening for PTSD and TBI, encourage service members to seek treatment, improve quality of care, and reduce the stigma associated with treatment for these conditions. To explore these changes, as well as their potential effects on the numbers and characteristics of service members who are evaluated through DES, the authors identify and assess trends in DES outcomes for PTSD and TBI between 2002 and 2017.
自2001年以来，超过300万军人被部署到阿富汗、伊拉克及其他战区，以支持多项作战行动。许多人被诊断出患有这些冲突中的“标志性创伤”：创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和/或创伤性脑损伤（TBI）。在这期间，对军人进行残疾评估的过程发生了显著变化，包括从2007年开始对残疾评估系统（DES）进行全面改革。与此同时，国防部（DoD）和各军种进行了政策调整，并开展了其他工作，以改进对PTSD和TBI的筛查，鼓励军人寻求治疗，提高护理质量，并减少与这些疾病治疗相关的耻辱感。为了探究这些变化及其对通过DES评估的军人数量和特征的潜在影响，作者确定并评估了2002年至2017年期间DES对PTSD和TBI评估结果的趋势。
