CHICAGO (AP) - National Guard and Reserve combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems than active-duty U.S. soldiers, a new military study suggests ...

Scientists found that military women who had served between 2001 and 2004, and who had been in direct combat, were 2 1/2 times more likely to say they had been sexually assaulted during those years than female servicemembers who had never been to war.

Results [from the Millennium Cohort Study] ... are being regularly reported and are better informing DoD, VA and other medical providers on how to best care for those who are serving our nation. More than 30 publications of findings from the Millennium Cohort Study have already appeared in medical and scientific journals.

Returning servicemembers are among the some 40 million Americans who suffer from chronic long term sleep disorders, and, for reasons ranging from disrupted sleep during deployment

DoD and VA should sponsor longitudinal studies to answer questions regarding long-term effect of TBI, PTSD and other mental health disorders, a recent IoM report recommended. The report suggested that current studies like the Millennium Cohort Study and the Longitudinal Health Study of the Gulf War Era Veterans may provide a platform for long-term followup.

A recent study published by DoD researchers in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports that service members who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are at no increased risk for developing chronic respiratory conditions.

The Naval Health Research Center recently published an article in the Annals of Epidemiology on the use of complementary and alternative medicine in the military population. The article found that approximately forty percent of the U.S. military population uses alternative therapies.

The Department of Defense's ongoing Millennium Cohort Study of 150,000 members of the military and veterans has helped researchers learn important new information about many deployment health-related concerns, according to the leader of the study.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher will examine the role of cumulative psychosocial stress – as well as race, ethnicity and gender – among U.S. military personnel to gauge their impact on cardiovascular health and healthcare utilization. The study is funded by a $1 million grant from the Defense Health Agency, part of the Department of Defense (DoD). The findings will help the military develop programs for health promotion and health readiness for active duty and Reserve/National Guard personnel.

Combat experience is one of the factors that increases the risk that U.S. soldiers will start smoking, a new study suggests.Researchers analyzed data from a long-term study to assess the long-term health effects of service in the U.S. military. The study began in 2001 and will continue until 2022. The researchers collect survey data every three years.The focus of this study was military personnel who had never smoked or had quit smoking. The researchers wanted to tease out possible factors for either starting or resuming smoking.They found that factors linked to resuming or newly starting a smoking habit included pay grade, service branch, combat deployment, mental health history, stress and individual characteristics.