Soldiers after a war-zone deployment

The objective of this report is to examine the mental health profile of Danish soldiers who have been sent on international deployment. The main conclusions of the report are:
1. Overall almost 17% of the 26,000 soldiers sent on deployment in the period 1992-2009 have post-deployment been registered with a psychiatric diagnosis, purchased medication for mental diseases, or been treated for substance abuse, without having been registered before.
2. If we compare the soldiers deployed (born between 1975 and 1982) with a comparable control group of more than 100,000 men who were assessed as fit for military service during the selection process (Danish Defence Day), but who were not sent on deployment, we find that in general those deployed have fewer psychiatric diagnoses and less contact with the psychiatric healthcare system. Furthermore, fewer buy medication for mental diseases and fewer have been in treatment for substance abuse. Moreover we find lower mortality rates for the deployed soldiers than for the control group.
3. At the time of deployment, the incidence of mental disease is lower for deployed soldiers than for the people in the control group, but around three years after deployment there is a relatively marked increase for the deployed soldiers compared with the even increase observed in the control group. This means that after a few years, the deployed soldiers end at the same level as the control group. Furthermore, the deployed soldiers report more occupational mental diseases than the control group, and in general they report more industrial injuries.
4. Soldiers previously deployed to the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s are particularly likely to be registered with psychological injuries, but soldiers repatriated from missions in Afghanistan and Iraq in the period 2005-2009 have also been registered with injuries after deployment.
5. Soldiers deployed in the period 2007-2009, who have not responded to the questionnaires in connection with follow-up studies by the Department of Military Psychology (MPA), have poorer mental health than those who responded to the questionnaire.