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Mortality and morbidity selection effects among US veterans.

¹Medical Follow-up Agency, National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, Washington, DC 20418.

Journal of Occupational Medicine. : Official Publication of the Industrial Medical Association

|December 1, 1987

Summary

US male veterans show lower mortality, but not necessarily better health. This study found no significant morbidity selection effect, though disabled veterans complicate the comparison.

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Area of Science:

Public Health
Epidemiology
Veterans Health

Background:

US male veterans exhibit a lower mortality rate, often attributed to the "healthy worker" effect.
However, the impact of this selection effect on morbidity (illness) among veterans remains understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

To review evidence for mortality selection effects in US male veterans.
To investigate the presence of a morbidity selection effect using general health survey data.

Main Methods:

Review of existing literature on veteran mortality selection.
Analysis of health characteristics from two national health surveys comparing veterans and nonveterans.

Main Results:

No substantial differences in overall health characteristics were found between veterans and nonveterans, indicating a lack of morbidity selection effect.
The inclusion of military service-connected disabled veterans in the analysis presented a complication to the findings.

Conclusions:

The study reconciles the established mortality selection effect with the absence of a clear morbidity selection effect.
Findings suggest that while veterans may have lower mortality, this does not directly translate to universally better health outcomes across all morbidity measures.

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