Active-duty troops hospitalized for mental disorders rose 19 percent in 2011

Mental disorder hospitalizations up 19% in 2011
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 14, 2012

The number of active-duty troops hospitalized for mental disorders rose 19 percent in 2011, to 21,735, up from 18,250 in 2010, according to a Defense Department morbidity report released Monday.

The statistics mean that for the second straight year, mental disorders have supplanted pregnancy as the number one reason active-duty personnel are hospitalized.

From 2006 to 2009, pregnancy-related conditions and childbirth were the top reasons service members were admitted to hospital.

But in 2010, mental disorders — mainly adjustment diagnoses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and episodic mood disorders, including major depression and bipolar disorder — were associated with more hospitalizations among the active-duty component than any other medical condition.

And the trend continued in 2011.

“Together, these two conditions accounted for 15 percent and 17 percent of all hospitalizations of males and females (excluding pregnancy) respectively,” according to an Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center report released Monday.
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