The effect of combat deployments on veteran opioid abuse.
Health Econ
; 33(6): 1284-1318, 2024 Jun.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38424463
ABSTRACT
Grim national statistics about the U.S. opioid crisis are increasingly well known to the American public. Far less well known is that U.S. servicemembers are at ground zero of the epidemic, with veterans facing an overdose death rate of up to twice that of civilians. Exploiting a quasi-experiment in overseas deployment assignment, this study estimates the causal impact of combat exposure among the deployed in the Global War on Terrorism on opioid abuse. We find that exposure to war theater substantially increased the risk of prescription painkiller abuse and illicit heroin use among active duty servicemen. The magnitudes of our estimates imply lower-bound combat exposure-induced healthcare costs of $1.04 billion per year for prescription painkiller abuse and $470 million per year for heroin use.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Veteranos
/
Trastornos Relacionados con Opioides
Límite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Health Econ
Asunto de la revista:
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos