Life and Death in the US Army
In Corpore Sano
- Joseph M. Rothberg, PhD;
- Paul T. Bartone, PhD;
- Harry C. Holloway, MD;
- David H. Marlowe, PhD
Abstract
Using standardized mortality ratios, this study compares the sex- and race-specific, age-adjusted death rates for all US Army soldiers with those for the entire US population. Results show that soldiers are currently dying at a rate that is only half that of their civilian counterparts. The most striking difference in death rates by cause is a markedly lower homicide death rate for Army black men; homicides among the civilian black male population are 12 times more frequent than in the Army. Some factors that might account for these lower mortality rates in the Army are discussed.
(JAMA. 1990;264:2241-2244)
Footnotes
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The views of the authors do not purport to reflect the position of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense (para 4-3, AR 360-5).
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Reprint requests to Department of Military Psychiatry, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307-5100 (Dr Rothberg).
