Quantifying Injury-Related Limited Duty Days in Temporary Medical Profiles of U.S. Army Soldiers
Matthew C. Inscore, Rupsi Pal, Regis C. Pearson, Michelle Canham-ChervakIntroduction:
Injuries are the leading medical condition requiring treatment among U.S. Army Soldiers, accounting for nearly half (49%) of all medical encounters annually. E-Profile is the U.S. Army’s system of record for capturing duty limitations arising from a variety of medical conditions. This project summarized temporary medical profiles for active-duty U.S. Army Soldiers for a 3-yr period (2019–2021).
Methods:
Healthcare provider-recommended injury profiles were reported by system conditions ((neuro)musculoskeletal, behavioral health, pregnancy, etc.), mechanism of injury, and body part. The profiles were verified against medical records, and limited duty days (LDDs) from verified profiles were calculated. Descriptive statistics (means, medians, and standard deviations) are reported by mechanism of injury, injury type, and body part.
Results:
For the 3-yr period, across all profile categories, injuries accounted for 27,397,023 (61%) of assigned LDD. Most temporary injury profile LDD, 25,478,528 (93.0%), were for neuromusculoskeletal injuries. Approximately 53% of injuries in the medical record had a corresponding profile within 30 d of the injury diagnosis. Leading types of injury diagnoses receiving LDD assignments were musculoskeletal tissue damage, 8,199,369 LDD (55.7%); sprain or joint damage, 2,460,592 LDD (16.7%); and fractures, 1,388,409 LDD (9.4%). Running was the leading cause of injury in all years, 20%–24% of LDD, followed by military occupational tasks, 6.7%–10.2% of LDD.
Conclusion:
Healthcare provider-assigned profiles verified by medical diagnoses provide essential details for injury surveillance and assessing the effectiveness of prevention program activities.