Health Status of the Military Forces Deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, A Narrative Review

The deployment of soldiers in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq has a significant impact on their suffering from various mental, infectious, respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases, as well as on the rate of suicide, as well as alcohol and drug abuse.

The present study aimed to investigate the health status of the military forces deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq So to improve the health of Iranian military advisors.

This narrative review study reviewed the health status of troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. PubMed, Web of Science databases, and also Google Scholar Search Engine were used for this study without time limitation in English. The desired articles were searched in these databases using the keywords Iraq war, Afghanistan war, and Military health. A total of 4, 610 articles were retrived, and finally 33 articles were selected according to the various criteria of inclusion and exclusion of articles.

According to the findings of these studies, soldiers who return after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan are exposed to a wide range of physical and mental problems, including respiratory and infectious diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, physical dysfunction, traumatic Brain, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), alcohol and drug abuse, increase in the suicide rate, sleep disorder, and increase in violent crimes, Social support, coping, and psychological resilience will have significant indirect effects on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorders) and depression.

As evidenced by the obtained results, the complexity and extent of the health risks in the soldiers stationed in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan increases the concern about the health consequences in the future. The identification of soldiers at risk and therapeutic measures to increase resilience are important issues that should be considered.