Posted on 12/31/2012 8:58:28 PM PST by neverdem
However, study found those serving in Afghanistan, Iraq still had beginnings of heart disease
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 26 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan had been healthier than troops in previous wars, military researchers report.
Although almost 9 percent of those autopsied had some degree of atherosclerosis (or "hardening") of their coronary arteries, which can lead to heart disease, this was far lower than seen in soldiers who died in Vietnam or Korea, researchers say.
Similar studies had shown that 77 percent of soldiers in the Korean War and 45 percent in the Vietnam War had atherosclerosis, Webber's group noted.
But the numbers found in the survey of today's troops "are probably lower than those seen in the general U.S. population," added lead researcher Dr. Bryant Webber, from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.
Webber believes the military's medical care is in part responsible for healthier troops. "Some of the things the military is doing -- like addressing high blood pressure, high cholesterol -- we are doing well," he said.
In addition, they have concentrated on weight management, reducing smoking and improving fitness. "We are doing some things right, compared to previous years," Webber said.
Another expert agreed.
"We had a wake-up call 60 years ago when data from young soldiers killed in the Korean War showed a very high prevalence of coronary disease," said Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the Center for Population Studies at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md. He was also the author of an accompanying journal editorial.
That seems to have turned around based on this current study, he said. "There seems to be some good news that a lurking, dangerous condition appears to be far lower in prevalence today than it was in prior decades," Levy said. He attributes these gains to more attention to a healthy lifestyle and to risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking cessation.
Yet despite these improvements, there are young people fit enough to go into combat who are still at risk for heart disease, Webber added.
The report was published in the Dec. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
For the study, Webber's team looked at almost 4,000 autopsy reports of U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries between 2001 and 2011 in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Researchers found that, overall, a little more than 12 percent had some hardening of the arteries -- with 8.5 percent having any atherosclerosis, 2.3 percent with severe atherosclerosis, 4.7 percent with moderate atherosclerosis and 1.5 percent with minimal atherosclerosis.
One of the factors contributing to artery hardening was age -- those 40 and over were seven times more likely to have the condition than those aged 24 and younger, Webber said. Almost 46 percent of the older soldiers had some atherosclerosis, compared with only about 7 percent of the younger group.
Other factors included weight, with those who were overweight or obese more likely to have some atherosclerosis; and education, with those with less education more likely to have the condition.
Obesity levels have grown worse in the past 60 years, Levy said. "One worrisome note is the proportion of young people who are overweight and obese has gone up, which carry with it considerable risks," he said.
"We have already seen increases in diabetes," Levy noted. "So while most of the risk factors have trended in the right direction, obesity and diabetes are going in the wrong direction, and that's a source of concern of what will happen in the future to our population," he said.
In addition, those with atherosclerosis in the study were more likely to have been diagnosed with risk factors for heart disease -- such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure or obesity -- than those without the condition, the researchers noted.
Another expert agreed that the heart health of soldiers has improved over time.
"There has been a substantial decline in the rates of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events in the U.S. since peaking in the late 1960s," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a spokesman for the American Heart Association and professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Abstract
Results...Comparing atherosclerosis prevalence among with those with no cardiovascular risk factor diagnoses (11.1% [95% CI, 10.1%-12.1%]), there was a greater prevalence among those with a diagnosis of dyslipidemia (50.0% [95% CI, 30.3%-69.7%]; age-adjusted prevalence ratio [PR], 2.09 [95% CI, 1.43-3.06]), hypertension (43.6% [95% CI, 27.3%-59.9%]; age-adjusted PR, 1.88 [95% CI, 1.34-2.65]), or obesity (22.3% [95% CI, 15.9%-28.7%]; age-adjusted PR, 1.47 [95% CI, 1.10-1.96]), but smoking (14.1% [95% CI, 8.0%-20.2%]) was not significantly associated with a higher prevalence of atherosclerosis (age-adjusted PR, 1.12 [95% CI, 0.73-1.74]).Sacrilege! Heresy!
"Smoke them if you got them." I'm kidding, but they gave you 4 cigarettes with each "C ration" meal, IIRC, and field units were supplemented with "sundry packs" that included free cartons of smokes, etc. This is a FReebie. Happy New Year!
haven’t we been told that America is so fat we can’t supply the military?
Many who want to join are too fat. Recruiters have to make quotas. Recruiters have many of those who are too obese to do hard physical training for months before they send those who are too fat to a Military Entrance and Processing Station, or it will be a waste of time and money.
C Rations, now there’s a blast from the past.
There were several memorable events of 1968, and one of them was when Ham and Lima Beans were taken out of our C-rations and replaced by spaghetti. Also removed from C-rations that year were the cookies in the C-ration B-3 unit and the white bread from the B-2 unit. Really missed those cookies, but never developed a taste for the white bread.
As for the Ham and Lima Beans, there are mixed emotions. The Ham and Limas weren’t that bad if you could heat them up before attempting to eat them; you just had to melt that inch of lard that coagulated at the top of the can. There’s no way of telling how many calories were packed into those cans of Ham and Limas, but it had to be way over a thousand, and just how many of those calories were from pig fat, no one even wants to know. The good thing about that meal was that you could eat a can in the morning and drive on all day before getting hungry enough to face another can of Ham and Limas. I wonder how many of us are still carrying part of those cans of Ham and Lima Beans around in our arteries.
That was the ham and MFs.
I liked them, but I needed huge amounts of calories back then, I was a very fit 200 pounder.
I had to trade my peaches for fruit cake I was so desperate for calories, even though of course, almost everyone gave me their fruit cake for free.
Being in a war zone puts the average person under stress... I assume that was factored in... right?
Ok, sure, maybe the soldiers, airmen, seamen and marines are "fitter." Most of the new recruits (not all, but most) are also dumber and less intelligent. This whole new "fitter, leaner" military push was all a ruse to force out the more intelligent, more moral, more patriotic military member in order to replace them with more compliant, more liberal, more immoral, "One World Order-ish" military member who will have no problem firing upon his fellow American if given the order to do so.
THAT'S WHAT THEY'VE DONE! I know, I see it happen every day. Good decent men and women are being forced out to make room for future troops loyal only to the UN and Obama.
When this country goes to civil war, and it will, I wouldn't expect the military to side with the patriotic American who is trying to save his nation, I expect to be fired upon by those who "should be" standing up for America, but instead are standing up for the UN and Obama.
Can you tell I'm angry? Hey, that can be my tag line!
We would have a much bigger problem if we needed to get the kind of manpower we had in World War II, or even in the wars in Korea or Vietnam.
Technology and the Air Force are both fantastic force multipliers, but things would change quickly if we need to fight a land war against an adversary like North Korea or China.
I'm confident in South Korea's ability to defend itself against North Korea. Against China... well, let's hope they decide to keep their focus on selling cut-rate domestic products to rich Americans so they have a commercial incentive not to cause problems. Long-term, capitalism works, and might actually fix China.
However, that takes time, and China won't change into a free nation overnight. Our military is so much smaller than it was in the late 1980s that I'm not convinced we could repeat the expulsion of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait without major problems, and taking on a serious threat from a Chinese regime willing to use firepower instead of economic power is probably impossible today.
President Obama is doing nothing to help that problem, and is doing much to make it a lot worse.
Breakthrough of the Year, 2012 Just click on Science.
Cutting edge chemistry in 2012
Slideshow: Virgin Birth Not So Miraculous in Animal Kingdom
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Happy New Year!
Breakthrough of the Year, 2012 Just click on Science.
Cutting edge chemistry in 2012
Slideshow: Virgin Birth Not So Miraculous in Animal Kingdom
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Happy New Year!
bump
Check the link in comment# 1 and the other links in comments# 11 or 12.
>> but smoking (14.1% [95% CI, 8.0%-20.2%]) was not significantly associated with a higher prevalence of atherosclerosis (age-adjusted PR, 1.12 [95% CI, 0.73-1.74]).
Sacrilege indeed.
Did the layman’s research for the effects of cigar smoking, but the data I found never pointed to conclusive statistics that I could at least discern. Nonetheless, I cut back to play it safe.
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