Brief Research Notes

Michael Atkinson, Adam Guetz and Lawrence Wein write in the September 2009 issue of Management Science that the high tempo of deployments to the Middle East by U.S. troops makes it difficult for the VA to plan for veterans' care in the future. Delayed onset in many of our military makes it hard to predict when they will seek help and it what numbers. The authors use a mathematical model with deployment data and PTSD data from Iraq to predict a roughly 35% rate of PTSD in Iraqi veterans. They recommend that the VA "...needs to urgently ramp up its mental health resource capacity." Nothing was mentioned about the conflict heating up in Afghanistan. Another topic of interest is recent research on the relationship of diastolic blood pressure and cognitive impairment. Previous findings have shown a link between chronic stress and elevated blood pressure. Also, brain studies have found linkage between chronic stress and shrinkage of the hippocampus (a brain area involved in memory). Researchers at the University of Alabama in Birmingham have found that for every 10-point increase in diastolic blood pressure there is a 7% increased likelihood of cognitive impairment. Let's see. If my diastolic pressure should be 70, but is 100 then my potential for decreased concentration and memory increases by (3 X 7 =) 21%. Ye gads! Maybe I will take by blood pressure pills after all....

Bad News and Good News....

The bad news is that the Institute of Medicine has found a stronger association between the Agent Orange exposure of Vietnam veterans and two diseases. Ischemic heart disease and Parkinson's Disease are more closely correlated with Agent Orange (dioxin) exposure than we realized. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has not yet been granted authority to service connect the two disorders for veterans. Service connection means that veterans are allowed to file a claim after the fact to have a present illness recognized as having occurred in service and thus allow it to be treated in VA medical facilities. For example, if a soldier is shot in the knee that would be in his or her military medical records and entitle the veteran to life long treatment for the residuals of the injury (and death benefits to survivors if it kills you). However, certain service related illnesses are only recognized later in life and are hard to document if they occur after a person is out of the military. Agent Orange has already been linked to many disorders which had been service connected by act of Congress. So, what's the Good News? The IOM is also studying "Persian Gulf Syndrome" from the 1990-91 Gulf War so we know somebody out there cares. More information is available at the VA web site (http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/index.asp ).