Life and death in the US Army: in corpore sano

Article Abstract:

Mortality and morbidity data for various occupations are not new, but in comparison with civilian occupations, the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for the US Army has received little attention. There are several current studies of workers, and healthy worker effect (HWE) models have been constructed, but they provide no sex-, race-, or cause-specific data for the population, thus oversimplifying a complex web of individual, social, and organizational factors. The results of this study are striking. During peace time soldiers die at a rate half that of comparable civilians. Part of the difference for all soldiers can be explained by mental and physical entrance requirements for the military, self-selection, high levels of education, and the army's program of health promotion to reduce smoking, control stress, and emphasize exercise and nutrition. Also, high quality health care is not limited by income or other barriers. The authors present an analysis of mortality statistics during 1986, a noncombat period, broken down for cause-, race-, and sex-specific SMRs. The greatest difference between civilians and the army population is in the homicide rate. Civilian black males are killed at a rate 12 times that of black men in the army, reducing the rate to approximately that for white soldiers. Deaths from disease are also greatly reduced. Suicide is less common in the army (except possibly among women), but the difference is not as great, and deaths from accidents are not significantly different between the two populations. Again, the difference for black male soldiers is the highest: they are one-fifth as likely to die of disease as their civilian brothers. Female soldiers were less likely to die of disease, but more likely to die from external causes than civilian women. White female soldiers were twice as likely to die from accidents, but black female soldiers are very much less likely to die from all causes combined than black civilians. The implications of this study for civilian society, especially for black civilians, are momentous, and will require a debate on the balance between certain individual freedoms and the encouragement of healthy life styles. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Occupational health and safety, Occupational safety and health, Statistics, Demographic aspects, Soldiers, United States. Army, Occupational mortality

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Ability of exercise testing to predict cardiovascular and all-cause death in asymptomatic women: a 20-year follow-up of the lipid research clinics prevalence study

Article Abstract:

Women should not have a treadmill exercise test to detect any ECG abnormalities but to show how physically fit they are, according to a study of 2,994 healthy women between the ages of 30 and 80. The 427 women who died over a 20-year period were more likely to have a low exercise capacity, a low heart rate recovery after exercise, and could not achieve their target heart rate. These are all measures of physical fitness.

Measurement, Women, Medical examination, Physical fitness, Treadmill exercise tests, Death of

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Death's Door - Modern Dying and the Ways We Grieve: A Cultural Study

Article Abstract:

REVIEW: By

Books, Book review, Death's Door - Modern Dying and the Ways We Grieve: A Cultural Study (Book), Gilbert, Sandra M.

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