Capturing and Categorizing the Burden of Musculoskeletal Injuries in U.S. Active Duty Service Members: A Comprehensive Methodology- Military Medicine

v pav, x yuan, b isaacson, w funk, b hando

Musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) represent the most common, costly, and impactful medical conditions affecting active duty service members (ADSMs) of the United States Armed Forces. Inconsistent, variable MSKI surveillance methods and often incompletely described criteria for cohort selection, injuries, incidence, and prevalence have limited efforts to observe longitudinal trends, identify gaps in care, or highlight specific military branches or sites that could benefit from enhanced MSKI intervention protocols. The purpose of this manuscript is to present a comprehensive, well-documented, and reproducible framework for capturing and categorizing MSKI burden, healthcare utilization, and private sector costs for ADSMs across a 12-year period spanning the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification transition.

Veronika Pav, Xiaoning Yuan, Brad Isaacson, Wendy Funk, Ben Hando, Capturing and Categorizing the Burden of Musculoskeletal Injuries in U.S. Active Duty Service Members: A Comprehensive Methodology, Military Medicine, Volume 189, Issue Supplement_4, November/December 2024, Pages 70–77, https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usae245