Deployment Health Research
Contact Information:
Phone: (888) 942-5222, DSN: 553-7465, E-mail: milcohortinfo@med.navy.mil
Description: The Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) was designated as the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Center for Deployment Health Research, September 30, 1999 by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. To assist in this mission, NHRC established the Deployment Health Research Department. The mission of the department includes conducting epidemiological studies on the health of service members and their families. An experienced department staff and flexible framework provide the ability to quickly adapt and confront novel health concerns of DoD beneficiary populations and, where applicable, the general public. Staff members have expertise in biostatistics, epidemiology, medicine, psychology, reproductive health, complex data management, large mail and telephone surveys, and occupational health. Included among the core programs of the Deployment Health Research Department are the Millennium Cohort Study, the Millennium Cohort Family Study, the Recruit Assessment Program, the DoD Birth and Infant Health Registry and the ACAM2000 Myopericarditis Registry.
Millennium Cohort Study: The Millennium Cohort Study, the largest prospective health study in the military with more than 150,000 participants at present, meets this critical need. Although the original designers of the Millennium Cohort Study could not foresee the post-2001 military conflicts, the project is perfectly positioned to address health outcomes related to these operations. Deployment of more than 50% of Millennium Cohort participants in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan enable investigators to prospectively evaluate detailed data from before, during, and after these deployments. Current areas of research include posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, alcohol misuse, respiratory illnesses, sleep and chronic diseases. The Millennium Cohort Study is poised to provide critical information toward understanding the long-term health of military members, thus contributing to force health protection, a DoD priority.
Millennium Cohort Family Study: Launched in 2011, the Millennium Cohort- Family Study is conducted in tandem with the Millennium Cohort Study to better understand how military families are coping with military life after nearly a decade of war. Married new enrollees of the Millennium Cohort Study are asked for permission to contact their spouses to invite them to participate in the Family Study. The study team anticipates initially enrolling 10,000 spouses, of whom approximately half will be married to service members who have deployed in support of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Systematic documentation of both positive and negative outcomes associated with deployment, along with detailed analyses of risk and resilience factors will provide a scientifically sound foundation for understanding the relationships among multiple factors related to family member functioning and family dynamics. This information may facilitate identification of specific interventions aimed at reducing deployment-related stress, increasing family member resilience, and increasing the capability of family members to support service members.
The Recruit Assessment Program: The Recruit Assessment Program (RAP) was initiated in 2001 to capture comprehensive health and exposure data on military recruits prior to the onset of military-unique exposures encountered in basic training. Initially established as a pilot program, RAP successfully demonstrated the feasibility of routinely obtaining baseline health data from recruits and using this structured program to facilitate rapid in-processing of recruits. Over 133,000 Marines recruits from the Marine Corp Recruiting Depot in San Diego have completed the survey. Analyses of these data are underway, including the U.S. Marine Corps Health Assessment Project, an adjunct to the RAP effort that uses a follow-up survey to re-evaluate health and exposure data for RAP participants 1-3 years after completion of basic training. These studies enhance our understanding of how deployment affects the health of Marines.
DoD Birth and Infant Health Registry: Established in 1998 the DoD Birth and Infant Health Registry aims to better understand the reproductive health effects of military service. To accomplish this goal, the registry provides systematic surveillance of DoD beneficiary births, following infants after birth to assess health outcomes, including birth defects and preterm birth. With approximately 100,000 live births to military beneficiaries each year, the registry currently contains data on more than one million infants. Uses for these data include establishing the prevalence of birth defects and evaluating associations of various birth outcomes with specific exposures, such as smallpox vaccination or deployment. In 2003, the DoD Birth and Infant Health Registry team developed a highly visible collaboration with the CDC on the National Smallpox Vaccine in Pregnancy Registry. The National Smallpox Vaccine in Pregnancy Registry staff receives vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS) forms for women inadvertently vaccinated in pregnancy, or within 42 days prior to conception. Unique to this registry is the ability to use active case follow-up to evaluate pregnancy losses. Overall, the DoD Birth and Infant Health Registry addresses the reproductive health concerns of military families with strong science and surveillance, contributing to progress in the prevention of birth defects and other infant health challenges.
The ACAM2000® Myopericarditis Registry: As directed by the Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the ACAM2000® Myopericarditis Registry was established in 2010 in collaboration with the U.S. Military Vaccine Agency and the vaccine manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, to prospectively study the natural history of cases of myopericarditis which occur following receipt of the ACAM2000® Smallpox vaccine. This study aims to identify factors that may influence prognosis, serving to provide valuable data on potential vaccine effects and outcomes among military personnel.
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