Transcript from the JAMA Report's interview with Millennium Cohort Study researchers ...

A study that will be published next month found that the escalating use of stimulants by the military in active duty soldiers, including those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, was strongly correlated with an increase in the rates of PTSD, even when controlling for other factors, like the rate of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The study examined the use of prescription stimulants, like Ritalin and Adderall, and the rates of PTSD in nearly 26,000 military service members between 2001 and 2008, and found that the incidence of PTSD increased along with the prescriptions.

Starting in May, the Department of Defense will launch the third recruitment phase of the largest prospective health project in military history...

VA and DoD are working together and in partnership with various private institutions on studies regarding possible adverse health effects related to exposure to open-air burn pits.

This month, the Department of Defense (DoD) will launch the third and final recruitment phase of the largest prospective health project in military history -- the Millennium Cohort Study.

Combat experience is one of the factors that increases the risk that U.S. soldiers will start smoking, a new study suggests.Researchers analyzed data from a long-term study to assess the long-term health effects of service in the U.S. military. The study began in 2001 and will continue until 2022. The researchers collect survey data every three years.The focus of this study was military personnel who had never smoked or had quit smoking. The researchers wanted to tease out possible factors for either starting or resuming smoking.They found that factors linked to resuming or newly starting a smoking habit included pay grade, service branch, combat deployment, mental health history, stress and individual characteristics.

The Naval Health Research Center recently published an article in the Annals of Epidemiology on the use of complementary and alternative medicine in the military population. The article found that approximately forty percent of the U.S. military population uses alternative therapies.

The Department of Defense's ongoing Millennium Cohort Study of 150,000 members of the military and veterans has helped researchers learn important new information about many deployment health-related concerns, according to the leader of the study.

A recent study published by DoD researchers in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports that service members who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are at no increased risk for developing chronic respiratory conditions.

Results [from the Millennium Cohort Study] ... are being regularly reported and are better informing DoD, VA and other medical providers on how to best care for those who are serving our nation. More than 30 publications of findings from the Millennium Cohort Study have already appeared in medical and scientific journals.