Summary of mental disorder hospitalizations, active and reserve components, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2012

Abstract

Mental disorders are the leading cause of hospital bed days and the second leading cause of medical encounters for active component service members in the U.S. military. Mental disorder-related hospitalizations among military members have increased in both number and duration since 2006; mental disorders are the only illness/injury category for which hospitalization rates have markedly increased during the first 11 years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Between 2000 and 2012, 159,107 active component service members experienced 192,317 mental disorder hospitalizations. There were approximately 87 percent more mental disorder-related hospitalizations in 2011 (n=21,646) than in 2000 (n=11,604); in 2012, this number declined slightly (n=21,360). The overall increase since 2006 was largely due to sharp increases in hospitalizations for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, alcohol abuse and dependence, and adjustment disorder (% increases in hospitalizations, 2006-2012: PTSD: 192%; depression: 66%; alcohol abuse and dependence: 110%; adjustment disorders: 52%). Similar rates of increase occured among members of the reserve component. The percentage of mental disorder hospitalization records with a second (concurrent) mental disorder diagnosis increased during the surveillance period; more than half of all service members hospitalized for a mental disorder have a second mental disorder diagnosis documented during the same hospitalization.