Mental and physical health status in a community sample of New Zealand Vietnam War veterans

The data presented in this paper were obtained by a survey involving 573 New Zealand Vietnam veterans. It represents the first comprehensive report on the mental and physical health of a community sample of these ex-service personnel. Although most of these veterans were reasonably healthy for their age, a small proportion was substantially worse off than their Vietnam veteran peers, reporting relatively low levels of psychological wellbeing, relatively high levels of psychological distress and post-traumatic stress disorder, a greater number and severity of physical health symptoms, lower self-rated health status, and making more frequent contacts with health care providers.