More US Troops Evacuated for Psychiatric Reasons
More troops of the US-led wars on Iraq and Afghanistan leave battle ground and head back home due to psychiatric disorders, as only 14 percent of troops taken out of combat operations on medical grounds during a four-year period (2004-2007) were because of a combat injury.
AFP reported that a new study - indicates US troops who were withdrawn from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for medical reasons were increasingly evacuated for psychiatric reasons.
The study, conducted by a research team of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore revealed on Friday that psychiatric disorders rose from 2004 to 2007, despite an increased focus on treating mental health problems.
The biggest single cause for a pullout was "musculo-skeletal" and joint problems, which accounted for 24 percent of medical evacuations.
In contrast, psychiatric grounds accounted for five percent of evacuations in Iraq and six percent in Afghanistan in 2004; these figures rose to 14 and 11 percent respectively in 2007.
Researchers also said that repeat missions and declining public support for the Iraq war may partly account for the rise.
The study drew on data from more than 34,000 US personnel who had been evacuated to the main US military receiving hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
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