{"id":61772,"date":"2018-09-14T12:46:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T16:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/busm\/?p=61772"},"modified":"2018-09-14T12:46:47","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T16:46:47","slug":"military-womens-health-symposium-explores-gaps-in-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/2018\/09\/14\/military-womens-health-symposium-explores-gaps-in-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Military Women’s Health Symposium Explores Gaps in Research"},"content":{"rendered":"
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L to R: Kathryn M. Beasley, PhD, Capt. USN (Ret); Col. Glenn Markenson, MD; and Tracy Malone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A day-long symposium focused on the health of active-duty women and female veterans, A Call to Arms: Advancing Women\u2019s Health Research in the Military, was held Sept. 13 on the Medical Campus. Approximately 40 students, faculty experts from Boston University, Boston Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences as well as military veterans attended sessions that discussed some of the more recognized conditions of war such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and brain injury, as well as lesser-known after-effects such as cancer and poor perinatal health and their impacts on women who serve.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Director of the Center for Military and Post Deployment Health Col. Glenn Markenson, MD, who also serves as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology opened the symposium. \u201cThe mission of the Center is really to set forth interdisciplinary research plans and develop educational programs within the Boston community,\u201d he said. As a retired colonel with more than 25 years in the military, Dr. Markenson has hands-on experience regarding the unique health concerns of service members, both during war and peacetime operations, and is interested in research to improve the health of military personnel, especially women members. \u201cThere\u2019s huge gaps in research in war fighters that happen to be women. A lot of the research focuses on men,\u201d said Dr. Markenson. \u201cWe as a Center want to be there as a resource for you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After introducing the keynote speakers, Dr. Markenson finished his opening remarks saying, \u201cI will tell you both those women are extremely passionate about what they do. Through and through they care about veterans.\u201d The speakers, Kathryn M. Beasley, PhD, Capt. USN (Ret) and Tracy Malone, Vice President of UnitedHealth Group, discussed health outcomes of women in the military. Some of the more specific topics they explored included the health differences between women and men who have served regarding mental health. \u201cOne of the striking things that we noticed was that there were some specific challenges for women, particularly depression and frequent mental distress.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Beasley and Ms. Malone contributed to a report on the health of women with US military experience that provides key insights into the health of women who have served in the Armed Forces as compared to women who have not served, specifically looking at areas pertaining to behaviors, community & environment, policy and clinical care. <\/span><\/p>\n

The research found that women who have served are more likely to report being in very good or excellent health. \u201cMinority women are more likely to report being in better health than their civilian counterparts,\u201d said Dr. Beasley. \u201cHowever women who have served face greater mental health challenges than their peers.\u201d The report found that women who have served have a 42 percent higher rate of having a mental illness in the past year and have a 16 percent higher rate of having ever been diagnosed with depression than civilian women. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOverall women who have served are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who haven\u2019t served,\u201d said Dr. Beasley. \u201cWomen who have served are also more likely to be depressed than civilian women.\u201d The report also showed that women veterans have greater access to and utilization of preventive services and health coverage. The research also found that these veterans have a 16 percent higher rate of arthritis, cancer and cardiovascular disease than women who have not served. \u201cThe report\u2019s findings are intended to help us understand the health of military women to improve measures to help their well being,\u201d said Dr. Beasley. <\/span><\/p>\n

Other speakers included Ann McKee, MD, Director of Neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System and BUSM Professor of Neurology and Pathology, who discussed chronic traumatic brain injury. \u201cWe don\u2019t know anything about CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) in women,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a real research gap in looking at women\u2019s brains.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr. McKee addresses the crowd.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tracey Dechert, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery in Trauma & Critical Care, discussed blunt trauma outcomes. \u201cWhen you look more specifically at women in trauma, there\u2019s a huge number of women dying of injury.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kimberly Sullivan, PhD, BUSPH Research Assistant Professor of Environmental Health, addressed Gulf War illness and chronic conditions. \u201cWe know the Gulf War illness affects about a third of Gulf War veterans,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Amy Street, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, discussed PTSD, combat and military sexual trauma. One of the questions driving her research is \u201cHow does military sexual trauma impact veterans?\u201d She found that the level of PTSD between women and men was shockingly similar and that women were more at risk for depression than men.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cassidy Gutner, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, discussed the psychosocial treatment for PTSD. \u201cThere\u2019s room for improvement in psychosocial treatment response,\u201d said Dr. Gutner. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Markenson closed the symposium with a discussion about military reproductive outcomes, preterm birth rates of military women, birth defects with women in the Gulf War and postpartum depression in military women. \u201cNow we need to try to develop research strategies that can explore these gaps in care.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day-long symposium focused on the health of active-duty women and female veterans, and featured topics such as PTSD, brain injury, cancer and poor perinatal health and their impacts on women who serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12772,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[91,90],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61772"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61791,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61772\/revisions\/61791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}