Pre-Existing Insomnia Linked to PTSD and Other Mental Disorders After Military Deployment Science Daily - 28 June 2013 The new study, published in the July 2013 issue of the journal SLEEP, found that pre-existing insomnia symptoms conferred almost as a large of a risk for those mental disorders as combat exposure.

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.

"Women who deploy and report combat-associated exposures after childbirth are significantly more likely to screen positive for maternal depression than are women who did not deploy after childbirth," concluded the study, titled "Is Military Deployment a Risk Factor for Maternal Depression?" and appearing in the Journal of Women's Health.

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.

According to the Millennium Cohort Study soldiers who are deployed and exposed to combat, "are at increased risk of new-onset heavy weekly drinking, binge drinking, and other alcohol-related problems."

Analysis of U.S. service members who had deployed either once or multiple times revealed that both groups shared very similar PTSD trajectories over time, with the vast majority (83% single deployers, 85% multiple deployers) displaying a low-stable (resilient) symptom pattern that lasted from pre-deployment to several years post-deployment. The other PTSD symptom trajectory patterns included moderate-improving (8%, 8.5%), worsening-chronic (6.7%, 4.5%), high-stable (2.2% single deployers only) and high-improving (2.2% multiple deployers only).

Deployment as a Navy individual augmentee (IA) was not significantly associated with newly reported PTSD or symptoms of mental health problems (including PTSD, depression, panic or other anxiety and alcohol-related problems) compared with non-IA deployment.

Analyzing the military and health records of nearly 23,000 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, researchers with VA and the Department of Defense found little evidence of a higher risk of respiratory problems among those who served near burn pits.

Almost half of U.S. military personnel use dietary supplements, and many of them are seeking bodybuilding, weight loss and sleep benefits, according to a recent survey of more than 100,000 members of U.S. forces.

New study results recently reported in May/June issue of Public Health Reports reveal important associations between the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and physical activity levels among U.S. service members.