Cardiovascular disease-related medical evacuations, active and reserve components, U.S. Armed Forces, 1 October...

From 1 October 2001 through 31 December 2017, a total of 697 medical evacuations of service members from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility were followed by at least one medical encounter in a fixed medical facility outside the operational theater with a diagnosis of a cardiovascular disease (CVD). The vast majority of those (n=660; 94.7%) evacuated were males. More than a third of CVD-related evacuations (n=278, 39.9%) occurred in service members 45 years of age or older; slightly more than half (n=369; 52.9%) occurred in reserve or guard members. The most common CVD risk factors which had been diagnosed among evacuated service members prior to their deployment were hypertension (n=236; 33.9%) and hyperlipidemia (n=241; 34.9%). Much lower percentages had been previously diagnosed with obesity (n=74, 10.6%) or diabetes (n=21, 3.0%). More than 1 in 4 service members with a CVD-related medical evacuation had been diagnosed with more than one risk factor (n=182, 26.1%). Both limitations to the data available and strategies to reduce CVD morbidity in theater are discussed.