Investigation And Study On The Health Status And Influencing Factors Of Officers And Soldiers Stationed In The Plateau

Study BackgroundsIn recent years,field trainings and cross-district military drills in plateau regions have been frequently organized.The health of the troops and their ability to adapt to the plateau environments are the important factors affecting the battle efficacy,which also makes higher requirements on the medical care supports provided.To improve the health of the troops,measures on the prevention and treatment of the plateau diseases should be taken to meet the requirements of the troops(which is the demand side of the health care),and at the same time,the medical institutes of the troops should also be strengthened to guarantee the health of the troops(the supple side of the health care).Nowadays,military institutes at different levels have studied the effects of the plateau on the health of the troops as well as the measures to provide adequate health care to the troops in the plateau environments.However,instead of making research on the health of and analyzing the factors contributing to the plateau diseases suffered by the troops stationing at different altitudes of the plateau,many of these studies focused on the individuals of the troops and the measures proposed were not systemic ones.ObjectivesBy comparing the health of the troops stationing at different altitudes of the plateau,the author investigated on the differences in the major diseases occurred to troops stationing at the plateau and at the sub-plateau,and discussed the effects of the plateau environments and relevant factors on the occurrence of diseases.In order to overcome the adverse effects of the plateau environments on the health of the troops,the author put forward comprehensive measures of medical care service to improve the health of the troops stationing at the plateau for field trainings.MethodsIn this article,the author made cluster sampling of 3 troops on field training.TROOP ONE was a sample that stationed from sub-plateau with an altitude of 1800 m to another one with an altitude of 1500 m.TROOP TWO was a sample that stationed from a sub-plateau with an altitude of 1400 m to a plateau with an altitude of 4100 m.TROOP THREE was a sample that stationed from a plateau with an altitude of 3600 m to an altitude of 4100 m.Questionnaire was dispatched and comparative analyses were conducted to study the health of the troops having stationed at different altitudes of the plateau,the common diseases they suffered and the factors contributing to the diseases.ResultsOn the basis of the investigations and analyses,it was suggested that the diseases frequently occurred to the field training troops at the plateau often involved the systems of the respiratory,digestive,skin,injury and poisoning,feeling organs,circulatory,skeletal and muscle,and blood,totaling 8 systems.But the occurrence and the ratings of these diseases among the 3 sampled troops were different(P<0.05).Of the above-mentioned diseases,there was a difference in the occurrence of respiratory and digestive diseases between TROOP ONE and TROOP TWO/TROOP THREE(P<0.0167),whereas there existed no difference between TROOP TWO and TROOP THREE.With regard to the occurrence of skin,feeling organs,circulatory,skeletal and muscle,and blood diseases,there existed difference between TROOP THREE and TROOP ONE/ TROOP TWO(P<0.0167),but no difference existed between TROOP ONE and TROOP TWO.As to the occurrence of injury and poisoning diseases,there was difference between TROOP TWO and TROOP ONE/ TROOP THREE(P<0.0167),with no difference existed between TROOP ONE and TROOP THREE.Results of Logistic regression analysis on the diseases of the 8 systems indicated that the factors,including the rank,education,age,length of military service,body mass index(BMI),prophylactics taken and adaptive training prior to the field trainings,and the altitude differences between their respective barracks and the training field,contributed to the difference in the occurrences of the diseases of the 8 systems(P<0.05).ConclusionsThe health of the troops having stationed in the plateau was correlated not only with the environmental differences between their respective barracks and the training fields,such as air pressure,oxygen concentration,temperature difference in 24 h and the intensity of the sunlight,but also with the age,length of military service,education and body mass index of the individuals as well as prophylactics taken and adaptive training prior to the field trainings.To effectively overcome the adverse effects of plateau environments on the health of the troops and reduce the diseases common in the 8 systems above-mentioned,measures could be taken pre-,peri-and post-training,such as physical examination,taking prophylactics,adaptive training,catering supports,arranging field training scientifically and other supports.At the same time,the medical staff of these troops should be further trained on the prevention and treatment of the plateau diseases and the medical institutes should be well equipped.With the measures taken,the troops could adapt to the plateau environment physically and mentally,the military medical institutes could better deal with the plateau diseases frequently occurred to the troops and the health of the troops on field training could be improved,thus the combat forces of the troops be recovered and strengthened.