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. 2010 Nov;65(6):744-55.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbq072. Epub 2010 Sep 23.

Military service and men's health trajectories in later life

Janet M Wilmoth  1 , Andrew S London, Wendy M Parker
Affiliations

Military service and men's health trajectories in later life

Janet M Wilmoth et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: This study examines differences in the relationship between veteran status and men's trajectories of health conditions, activities of daily living limitations, and self-rated health.

Methods: We use data on 12,631 men drawn from the 1992-2006 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to estimate growth curve models that examine differences in health trajectories between nonveterans and veterans, veterans with and without wartime service, and war service veterans who served during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and multiple wars.

Results: The results indicate that veterans have better health at the mean age of 66.2 years, but experience greater age-related changes in health than nonveterans. Similarly, men who served during wartime have better health at the mean age, but more age-related changes in health than men who did not serve during wartime. Among war veterans, Vietnam veterans are in poorer health at the mean age, but they experience less substantial age-related health changes than men who served during previous wars.

Discussion: Although veterans experience better health relative to nonveterans around retirement age, they have poorer health than nonveterans among the oldest old. These findings inform our understanding of the veteran-nonveteran health-mortality paradox found in previous research and suggest a health crossover among veterans and nonveterans in later life.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(a) Predicted number of condition trajectories by veteran status. (b) Predicted ADL limitations trajectories by veteran status. (c) Predicted self-rated health trajectories by veteran status. Predicted values represent men who report good early-life health; are non-Hispanic White, married, high school graduates, out of the labor force, nonsmokers, nondrinker, normal weight; and have mean early-life disadvantage scores and mean household incomes.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(a) Predicted number of condition trajectories among veterans by war service. (b) Predicted ADL limitations trajectories among veterans by war service. (c) Predicted self-rated health trajectories among veterans by war service. Predicted values represent men who report good early-life health; are non-Hispanic White, married, high school graduates, out of the labor force, nonsmokers, nondrinker, normal weight; and have mean early-life disadvantage scores and mean household incomes.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(a) Predicted number of condition trajectories among war service veterans by time period served. (b) Predicted ADL trajectories among war service veterans by time period served. (c) Predicted self-rated health trajectories among war service veterans by time period served. Predicted values represent men who report good early-life health; are non-Hispanic White, married, high school graduates, out of the labor force, nonsmokers, nondrinker, normal weight; and have mean early-life disadvantage scores and mean household incomes. Percent of observations in each trajectory age range: WWII = 99%, Korea = 96%, Vietnam = 99%, multiple = 98%.
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