The Health of Former Prisoners of War Results from the Medical Examination Survey of Former POWs of World War II and the Korean Conflict (1992) / Chapter Skim
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7 Review of Data Quality and Study Findings
7 Review of Data Quality and Study Findings
Pages 85-92
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From page 85... ...
program for research purposes, it is necessary to collect protocol examination data on representative groups of POWs rather than to analyze data for only men who have presented themselves for examination." It was not until later (as directed under a separate VA circular) that control groups were added, because the proposed inclusion of non-POW veterans in the VA's examination program posed some difficulties and therefore was 85
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From page 86... ...
As evidence for this general statement, the same disparity in POW and control response rates is again seen in their responses to the supplemental psychological questionnaire mailing sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health: questionnaire response rates were 25-30% for POWs and only 10-25% for controls. Interestingly, only relatively minor differences are apparent among POW groups or among control groups, except for the Korean conflict POWs and controls.
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From page 87... ...
Although a similar analysis has not yet been undertaken for the examination data from this study, the lack of obvious nonresponse bias in the 198~1985 questionnaire followup, together with a similar lack of such bias indicated in the demographic and VA hospitalization data, is somewhat reassuring. CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER REVIEW OF RESULTS Perhaps the signal feature of the examination data collection is its magnitude the 1,067 examinations provide diagnostic data on more than 65,000 coded medical conditions.
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From page 88... ...
Known differences in age, length of captivity, and harshness of treatment during captivity made it reasonable to examine lifetime prevalence data for MFUA POWs and controls and for Minneapolis POWs separately, by war theater. Table 4.4 displayed lifetime prevalence rates for selected Eberly and Engdahl diagnostic categories.
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From page 89... ...
In every case, however, there were noteworthy differences between POWs and controls, regardless of how psychiatric illness was measured. Question C asked whether earlier hospitalization rates were comparable to recent rates of VA hospitalization.
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From page 90... ...
Less evidence was uncovered concerning nonpsychological aftereffects, possibly because these effects were not as pronounced but also perhaps because the medical conditions were analyzed in broad categories to avoid missing any important but unanticipated findings. The use of these broad categories rather than more specific ones was a choice dictated by the relative paucity of specific medical hypotheses formulated at the time the study was designed.
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From page 91... ...
. Finally, a preliminary multivariate analysis, analyzing all POW data jointly but controlling for the different POW groups, found intermittent claudication, arterial vascular disease, peripheral neuropathy, osteoarthritis, depressive disorder, and PTSD to be strongly associated with percent weight loss; it found cerebrovascular disease, ischemic heart di,;case, ulcer, asthma, depressive disorder, PTSD, and generalized anxiety disorder to be strongly associated with prison camp symptoms.
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From page 92... ...
The logistic regression analyses showed that edema was associated with a higher prevalence of ischemic heart disease and peripheral nerve disease; visual symptoms were associated with higher prevalences of cerebrovascular disease, ulcers, asthma, and posttraumadc stress disorder; and other symptoms were associated with higher prevalences of intermittent claudication, gastroententis, depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety. Percent weight loss was associated with a higher prevalence of intermittent claudication and arsenal vascular disease and strongly associated with a lower prevalence of osteoarthritis.
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