Health profiling of conscripts from the Orenburg region drafted to serve in the Armed Forces of Russia

Relevance. Amid international unrest, Russia’s top priority is to augment its defense capacities. The President of Russia decided to increase the army and navy corps by 30 %. To fulfill this task, physically strong and healthy conscripts are required to man the military units.

The objective is to analyze medical examination data of drafted young men aged 17 to assess the health profile of conscripts from the Orenburg region.

Methods. The study relied on Rosstat statistics for the Orenburg region, as well as reports and records of the Military Medical Expertise Center at the Federal Budgetary Institution “Military Commissariat of the Orenburg Region” collected over a decade’s timespan from 2014 to 2023. Conscripts were split into the following categories labelled by letters of the Russian alphabet: ‘A’ for fit for military service, ‘B’ for fit for military service with minor restrictions, ‘V’ for fit for military service with limitations, ‘G’ for temporarily unfit for military service, ‘D’ for unfit for military service. In addition, conjoined analysis of A & B categories of conscripts fit for military service vs V & D ‘unfit or fit for military service with limitations’ was performed for peace-time settings. The incidence of diseases in conscripts was correlated with relevant chapters of the International Classification of Diseases and Behavioral Disorders (ICD-10); calculations per 1000 conscripts (‰) were carried out. The obtained dynamics across different indicators was studied using dynamic series analysis and second-order polynomial trend; the determination coefficient was calculated as well.

Results and discussion. Within the last decade, the number of conscripts in the Orenburg region has not shown any sig nificant dynamics and is likely to remain unchanged in the coming years. The results showed that every 1,000 of examined conscripts included 761 those who were fit for military service, 98 needed treatment or rehabilitation, and 141 were unfit or fit with limitations. The annual disease incidence rate among B & D category conscripts was (141.6 ± 2.6) ‰, standing for 14.1% of all the examined conscripts. In terms of significance, rank 1 was assigned to musculoskeletal and connective tissue (ICD-10, Chapter XIII), rank 2 to mental and behavioral disorders (Chapter V), rank 3 to circulatory diseases (Chapter IX), rank 4 to diseases of the eye and adnexa (Chapter VII), rank 5 to nervous system disorders (Chapter VI). Among all military service exemption causes in conscripts, cumulative specific contribution of these diseases was 61.9%. In 2014-2023, the average of 8.3% of conscripts needed conservative treatment, with treatment provided to 87.1% of those in need of treatment; 1.5% needed surgical treatment (treatment received by 79.4%) and 48.3% needed oral cavity sanitation (79.4% treated accordingly). Conscripts with eye-sight disorders underwent vision correction.

Conclusion. Follow-up observation, medical and healthcare initiatives, and extensive promotion of healthy lifestyles allowed to improve the conscripts’ health status. The undertaken measures increased in the overall fitness for military service, allowing to sustainably deliver on Russia’s conscription demands.

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