Complaints of stress in young soldiers strongly predispose to psychiatric morbidity and mortality: Danish national cohort study with 10-year follow-up

• Published in: Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica Vol. 117; no. 2; pp. 148 - 155
• Main Authors: Hageman, I., Pinborg, A., Andersen, H. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2008; Blackwell
• Subjects: adjustment disorder; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Cohort Studies; Denmark - epidemiology; follow-up; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Men; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - mortality; Military Personnel - psychology; Military Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Miscellaneous; mortality; Prevalence; psychiatric morbidity; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Stress; Stress, Psychological - epidemiology; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Veterans; Young adults; Denmark; Human; adjustment disorder; mortality; psychiatric morbidity; follow-up; Follow up study; Cohort study; Mortality; Mental disorder; Adaptation disorder; Stress; Military
• ISSN: 0001-690X; 1600-0447
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2007.01129.x

Objective:  Serving military can be regarded as exposure to a moderate enforced stressor independent of other vulnerability factors. The aims of this study were i) to explore psychiatric morbidity and mortality during 10 years of follow‐up in a cohort of healthy adolescent Danish conscripts and ii) to investigate whether stress‐related disorders precede other psychiatric disorders. Method:  Controlled national cohort study on all psychiatric hospital contacts in young men referred to the Military Psychiatric Department (MPD) with 10 years of follow‐up. Results:  During the follow‐up period, 24% of conscripts seen at the MPD were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder compared with 4% in the control cohort. Almost all diagnostic categories were over‐represented but especially psychotic disorders. Mortality was substantially increased. Of subjects initially diagnosed with stress‐related disorders at the MPD, 20% later on developed psychopathology. Conclusion:  Young healthy men complaining of mental distress following a stressor are strongly disposed to psychiatric morbidity and mortality. The study suggests that stress‐related disorders often precede more severe psychopathology.