An Analysis of Injury Distribution Characteristics for Selected Ground Operations

Medical admission data was analyzed for seven military operations: Desert storm/Shield; Operation Just Cause; Operation Corporate; Operation Urgent Fury; operations in Lebanon; the Vietnam War; and the Korean Conflict. Frequency and percentage distributions by injury type and anatomy were determined for all operations. Chi-square analyses were performed to compare injury types among the more recent combat operations. The distribution of injury types showed variability among all operations with significant variability among Operations Desert Storm/Shield, Just Cause, and Corporate. Open wounds were the most prevalent battle injury type, while sprains/strains/dislocations and fractures accounted for the largest proportion of non-battle injuries. Among anatomic distributions, extremity injuries were most prevalent for all operations. Casualty projections, Wounded-in-action, Battle injuries, Non-battle injuries, Medical planning.