Epidemiological assessment of military conscripts morbidity under extreme physical activity

Relevance. In 2010 in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the basis of one military unit as an experiment, a trial of a new type of military servicemen physical training (PhTr) was started. The new type of PhTr was supposed to double the time for PhTr from 12 to 25 hours a week. This daily 4-hours PhTr with increased loads turned out to be extreme for servicemen.
As a result of this strenuous training, the increase of servicemen morbidity was noticed that could lead to decline in combat capability of military units.
Intention. The aim of the present study was to evaluate from the epidemiological point of view the servicemen morbidity under conditions of extreme PhTr.
Methods. To analyze the trends of morbidity rate and structure, hospitalization rates were used. Hospitalization rates were analyzed retrospectively from 2007 to 2013 for conscripts engaged in the trial of the new PhTr model. The control group consisted of conscripts with similar activities and every day life; the only difference was absence of new PhTr.
Results and Discussion. Two-fold increase in PhTr volume along with intermixing and low fitness of conscripts resulted in statistically significant increase (99.9 % confidence) in general hospitalization rates (by 12.0–12.9 % and 100.5–108.6 ‰); hospitalization rates for acute respiratory diseases (blocks 1.1–1.3 chapter X ICD-10; 27.9–34.9 % and 145.5–182.6 ‰); acute respiratory diseases among all admitted increased by 10.6–12.1 %; acute bronchitis with bronchiolitis (J20–J21 ICD-10) by 217.1 % and 128.5 ‰, community acquired pneumonia (J12–J18) by 74.8 % and 37.2 ‰, respectively; unspecified acute lower respiratory infection (J22) by 201.8 % and 7,2 ‰, respectively. Cumulative days of absence from work due to the above mentioned nosologies increased by 2488.4 ‰ (or 2.9 times).
Conclusion. Nowadays, for adequate combat capability, it is necessary to intensify PhTr; however, morbidity should not exceed sporadic levels. Hence, it is essential to create appropriate conditions and organize suitable activities in order to restrict the influence of negative factors and, thus preventing diseases among servicemen.

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