Research and Knowledge Centre, The Danish Veterans Centre, Ringsted, Denmark.
Section for Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2024;15(1):2296188. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2296188. Epub 2024 Jan 16.
Prior studies comparing the mental healthcare utilisation (MHU) of Danish formerly deployed military personnel (FDP) with the general population have not included data on psychotherapy through the Defence or talking therapy with the general practitioner. This study included these and several other data sources in a comprehensive comparison of MHU between Danish FDP and civilians. First-time deployed military personnel ( = 10,971) who had returned from a mission to Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq or Lebanon between January 2005 and July 2017 were included. A sex and birth-year-matched civilian reference group was randomly drawn from the entire Danish non-deployed population ( = 253,714). Furthermore, a sub-cohort, including male FDP and civilians deemed eligible for military service, was defined. These cohorts were followed up in military medical records and registers covering the primary and secondary civilian health sectors from 2005 to 2018, and the rates of MHU were compared. Approximately half of the initial help-seeking for FDP took place through the Defence (49.4%), and the remainder through the civilian healthcare system. When help-seeking through the Defence was not included, MHU was significantly lower among FDP in the main cohort during the first two years (IRR = 0.84, 95% CI: [0.77, 0.92]) compared to civilians. When help-seeking through the Defence was included, MHU was significantly higher among FDP compared to civilians both in the first two years of follow-up (IRR = 2.01, 95% CI: [1.89, 2.13]) and thereafter (IRR = 1.18, 95% CI: [1.13, 1.23]). In the sub-cohort, these differences were even more pronounced both in the first two years of follow-up and thereafter. MHU was higher among Danish FDP compared to civilians only when data from the Defence was included. The inclusion of data on both civilian and military healthcare services is necessary to evaluate the full impact of deployment on MHU among Danish FDP.
先前的研究比较了丹麦退役军人（FDP）与普通人群的精神保健利用（MHU），但这些研究并未包括通过国防部门获得的心理治疗或与全科医生进行的谈话治疗的数据。本研究综合比较了丹麦 FDP 和普通民众之间的 MHU，包括这些数据来源和其他几个数据来源。研究纳入了 2005 年 1 月至 2017 年 7 月期间从科索沃、阿富汗、伊拉克或黎巴嫩执行任务返回的首次部署军人（n=10971）。从整个丹麦非部署人群中随机抽取了一个按性别和出生年份匹配的平民参考组（n=253714）。此外，还定义了一个包括男性 FDP 和被认为有资格服兵役的平民的亚队列。这些队列在 2005 年至 2018 年期间，在军事医疗记录和涵盖初级和二级民用卫生部门的登记册中进行了随访，并比较了 MHU 的发生率。FDP 最初寻求帮助的约一半是通过国防部门（49.4%），其余则是通过民用医疗保健系统。当不包括国防部门的求助时，与平民相比，在主要队列的头两年中，FDP 的 MHU 明显较低（IRR=0.84，95%CI：[0.77，0.92]）。当包括国防部门的求助时，在头两年的随访中，FDP 的 MHU 明显高于平民（IRR=2.01，95%CI：[1.89，2.13]），此后也是如此（IRR=1.18，95%CI：[1.13，1.23]）。在亚队列中，无论是在头两年的随访中还是此后，这些差异更为明显。只有当包括国防部门的数据时，丹麦 FDP 的 MHU 才高于平民。评估部署对丹麦 FDP 的 MHU 的全面影响，需要同时包括平民和军事医疗保健服务的数据。
