Long-term health effects of Vietnam-era military service: "Hearing and mental health appear to be particularly affected."

J Health Econ. 2015 Dec 2;45:12-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.11.003. [Epub ahead of print]

Long-term health effects of Vietnam-era military service: A quasi-experiment using Australian conscription lotteries.

Johnston DW1, Shields MA1, Siminski P2.

Author information

• 1Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
• 2School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia; IZA, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: siminski@uow.edu.au.

Abstract

This paper estimates the long-term health effects of Vietnam-era military service using Australia's National conscription lotteries for identification. Our primary contribution is the quality and breadth of our health outcomes. We use several administrative sources, containing a near-universe of records on mortality (1994-2011), cancer diagnoses (1982-2008), and emergency hospital presentations (2005-2010). We also analyse a range of self-reported morbidity indicators (2006-2009). We find no significant long-term effects on mortality, cancer or emergency hospital visits. In contrast, we find significant detrimental effects on a number of morbidity measures. Hearing and mental health appear to be particularly affected.