David P. Adams, PhD, MPH, Department of Health Sciences, Armstrong Atlantic State University, 11935 Abercorn Street, Savanna, GA 31419, 912-921-7340, adamsdav@mail.armstrong.edu

Objective: To examine mortality trends among United States military personnel who died from hepatitis during their tours of duty in Southeast Asia from 1965 to 1975.

Design: Cross-sectional cohort study

Data Sources: Southeast Asia Combat Area Casualty File, Department of Defense Mortality Records, the Vital Statistics of the United States, and Medline

Methods: Kaplan-Meier Survival Analysis of quantitative data via SPSS (Version 11.0)

Results and Conclusions: “Hepatitis” (as an official cause of death) represented the least common of all non-combat mortality among US military personnel in Southeast Asia. Among 58, 233 casualties listed, twenty-two (0.04%) had “hepatitis” listed as the primary cause of death. Examination of this data in light of contemporary and postwar hepatitis morbidity suggests that, although the vast majority of cases survived, these twenty-two may have represented silent sentinels of post-Vietnam hepatitis epidemiology in the United States.

Learning Objectives:

• To analyze hepatitis mortality trends among United States combat troops in Vietnam, 1965-1975

Keywords: Communicable Disease, Epidemiology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.