Human Casualties and War: Results of a National Epidemiologic Survey in Iran

Limited studies have reported epidemiologic data on the impact of Iran-Iraq war. This study examines the war casualties for both combatants and civilians on Iranians at national level.

Databases of Veterans and Martyrs Affair Foundation (VMAF), Janbazan Medical and Engineering Research Center (JMERC) and Ministry of Health were used to collect the data. The prevalence of injuries for both civilians and combatants was presented. Casualties were studied based on conventional and unconventional weapons attacks (1980–2018), separately.

The Iran-Iraq war led to 183 623 lost lives, 554 990 injured and 40 240 captured. The mean length of captivity was 45.7 months (1 month-19 years) and 2.7% (n = 575) died in captivity. There were 1 439 180 war related injuries recorded in databanks, mostly affecting men (98.4%). About 1 439 180 injuries were recorded, most of them related to conventional weapons (938 928 [65.24%]). Remaining artillery and mortar fragmentation in the body (39.5%, n = 371 236), psychological disorders (15.9%, n = 228 944), and exposure to chemical weapons (11%, n = 158 817) were the most prevalent war-related injuries.

Human casualties of the Iran-Iraq war on the Iranian side and the health care system are huge even after more than three decades.