Page 30 - Delaware Medical Journal - March/April 2021

as described in the Methods section, not distinguishing active duty personnel from veterans can affect prevalence estimates intended to apply solely to veterans.
Chronic mental health conditions were not included in our study. Literature shows a disproportionately higher burden of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and other mental disorders among veterans.23 Because these were excluded and not all conditions are captured by BRFSS data, these analyses most likely underestimate the burden of MCC in veterans.
Only crude prevalence estimates of MCC in veterans are presented for the U.S.
and the District of Columbia and do not account for different age distributions among the 50 states or District of Columbia. In addition, because the
age distribution of veterans does not match the age distribution of civilians, future studies must control for age when comparing these two groups.
Despite these limitations, examining
the prevalence of MCC among veterans of MCC patterns. Future studies could seek to explain why differences in the prevalence of MCC among subgroups exist. These estimates show that 47.8% of U.S. veterans have MCC and that MCC remain a public health concern. Goals of the HHS MCC initiative5 include stimulation of epidemiologic research to understand distribution and burden of MCC in order to strengthen targeted health care delivery. In addition, providing MCC data at the state level can improve targeting of interventions by caregivers and policymakers. It is projected that veterans age 65 years and older will increase from 49% to 51%
by 2024; and the share of all veterans
at the oldest ages (85 years and over)
will increase from 9% to 10%.24,25 As
the veteran population ages and life
TABLE 3: Most Prevalent Chronic Conditiona Dyads and Triads by Age
and Sex for U.S. Veterans with 2 Chronic Conditions, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2015-2018)
DYAD
Arthritis / obesity
Arthritis / high cholesterol
Angina / high cholesterol
High blood pressure / high cholesterol Angina / obesity
Diabetes / obesity
Arthritis / high blood pressure Diabetes / high cholesterol
Heart attack high cholesterol
Arthritis / cancer
Sex - Male
Arthritis / high cholesterol
Arthritis / obesity
Angina / high cholesterol
High blood pressure / high cholesterol Arthritis / high blood pressure
Sex - Female
Arthritis / high cholesterol
Arthritis / obesity
High blood pressure / high cholesterol Arthritis / high blood pressure
Asthma / obesity
Age - Less than 65 years
Arthritis / obesity
Arthritis / high cholesterol
High blood pressure / high cholesterol Asthma / obesity
Diabetes / obesity
Age - More than 65 years
Arthritis / high cholesterol
Arthritis / obesity
Angina / high cholesterol
Angina / obesity
High blood pressure / high cholesterol
% (95% CONFIDENCE INTERVAL)
14.4 (14.0-14.7) 12.6 (12.2-13.0) 6.8 (6.6-7.1) 5.2 (5.0-5.5) 4.5 (4.3-4.8) 3.5 (3.2-3.7) 3.3 (3.2-3.5) 3.0 (2.8-3.2) 3.0 (2.8-3.2) 3.0 (2.8-3.2)
15.5 (15.0-16.0) 11.2 (10.8-11.6) 8.9 (8.6-9.3) 6.6 (6.3-7.0) 4.1 (3.9-4.4)
19.1 (17.4-20.8) 16.1 (14.5-17.8) 4.9 (3.8-6) 4.9 (4.1-5.7) 4.3 (2.8-5.7)
19.6 (18.9-20.4) 13.2 (12.5-13.9) 6.9 (6.4-7.4) 4.5 (4.0-4.9) 4.2 (3.8-4.7)
12.2 (11.7-12.6) 10.6 (10.2-11.0) 9.0 (8.6-9.4) 5.2 (4.9-5.5) 4.0 (3.7-4.2)
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Del Med J | March/April 2021 | Vol. 93 | No. 2