1. Evaluating measures of combat deployment for U.S. Army personnel using various sources of administrative data
- Author
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Nigel Bush, Zach J. Peters, Jean L. Otto, Lindsay Stewart, Marjorie S. Campbell, Daniel P Evatt, Brad E. Belsher, and Kevin O'Gallagher
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Active duty ,Epidemiology ,Combat exposure ,01 natural sciences ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,parasitic diseases ,Humans ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,0101 mathematics ,Iraq War, 2003-2011 ,Afghan Campaign 2001 ,business.industry ,Data Collection ,010102 general mathematics ,U s army ,medicine.disease ,United States ,Military Personnel ,Software deployment ,Female ,Medical emergency ,business - Abstract
Purpose This study’s purpose is to inform future research decisions about optimal measures for identifying combat deployments. We aim to evaluate four commonly utilized measures available in population-level administrative data to identify combat deployments in recent military operations among active duty Army personnel. Methods We compare these measures in three ways: (1) agreement (assessing the extent to which soldiers were differentially identified as combat deployed via each measure); (2) validity (calculating the sensitivity of each measure against a criterion measure); and (3) corroboration (examining how each measure predicted subsequent incidence of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder). Results We found that using personnel records to identify deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and/or Kuwait captured over 98% of combat-related deployments identified via self-reported measures. The addition of Kuwait allowed for detection of nearly 100% of battle injuries, improving sensitivity from 94.5% to 99.8%. However, self-reported combat exposure measures showed the largest differential in subsequent incidence of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Completeness and accuracy of different combat deployment measures varied significantly. Conclusions Using personnel records to identify deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan, and/or Kuwait was the most valid and comprehensive measure of combat deployment. However, self-reported combat exposure measures were more predictive of combat-related outcomes.
- Published
- 2019