Mil Med. 2025 Sep 1;190(Supplement_2):821-828. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usaf358.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Military service includes inherent risk of serious injury, especially during times of conflict. The negative impact of service member serious mental health and physical injuries on their spouses’ and children’s health and well-being has been reported. Research further indicates an increased risk to family members of those with mental health injuries. The Army has designed the Warrior Care and Transition (WCT) program to comprehensively address service member injury and facilitate return to the active force. The longer-term impact of service member injury of spouses and children of soldiers who have recovered is unknown.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Medication Operations Data System-Warrior Transition was used to identify WCT soldiers who returned to the active force after program completion. Warrior Care and Transition soldiers were matched to controls, and spouses and children of cases and controls were compared on mental health diagnoses. Mental health of WCT soldiers’ family members with mental health, and both mental health and physical injuries were compared to family members of those with physical injuries alone using logistic regression. Models adjusted for age, sex, soldier return to warrior care, and nonmilitary parent mental health.
RESULTS: There were 6,254 spouses and 7,704 children of 9,048 WCT soldiers and 18,762 spouses and 23,112 children of 27,144 matched controls included. As compared to controls, the spouses of WCT soldiers had increased odds of outpatient mental health diagnoses (36%); children of WCT soldiers had increased odds of mental health diagnoses in the outpatient (107%) and inpatient (77%) setting. In secondary analysis, as compared to spouses of WCT soldiers with purely physical injuries, spouses of WCT soldiers with mental health injured had increased odds of inpatient (85%) and outpatient (64%) mental health diagnoses, as did the spouses of WCT soldiers with both mental health and physical injuries (70% and 34%). Children of soldiers with both injury types had a 55% increased odds of an outpatient mental health diagnosis, but inpatient care did not differ, nor did inpatient or outpatient care for children of soldiers with mental health injuries. Sleep care for spouses and children varied little by soldier injury type.
CONCLUSIONS: Even after injured soldiers completed a comprehensive program and were deemed healthy enough to return to the active force, mental health risk remained increased for their spouses and children. Findings highlight the ongoing risk to families of those seriously injured and reinforce the need for ongoing monitoring of family health in current and previously injured soldiers.
PMID:40984163 | DOI:10.1093/milmed/usaf358
