Generic indicators for mental disorders in the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Russia (2003–2016)

Relevance. Summarized data on the level of mental disorders in the military personnel of the US and British armies are presented. The analysis of mental disorders in general for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (the Russian Armed Forces) was not conducted. Intention. The aim is to study the dynamics of mental disorders among military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces by groups of mental disorders from 2003 to 2016 in the categories of servicemen: officers, contract servicemen (privates and sergeants), female servicemen and military conscripts. Methods. We conducted a statistical analysis of 60 % of medical reports on the health of personnel and medical service activity according to 3/MED Form for the period from 2003 to 2016. We calculated the standard medical-statistical characteristics of mental disorders for groups (blocks) of class V “Mental disorders and Behavioral Disorders” of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, the 10th revision (ICD-10). Results and Discussion. The general morbidity rate of mental disorders in the Russian Armed Forces was (12.94 ± 0.57) ‰, the primary morbidity rate – (7.37 ± 0.23) ‰, the follow-up rate – (1.64 ± 0.10) ‰, the hospitalization rate – (6.96 ± 0.28) ‰, days of work loss – (192.9 ± 7.8) ‰, the dismissal rate for health reasons – (4.34 ± 0.25). A contribution of mental disorders to the structure of the morbidity indicators of servicemen for 15 classes of ICD-10 was found to be low (about 1%, ranks 12–14) . However, mental disorders account for 37.6 % (1st rank) of the general dismissal in the Russian Armed Forces, which highlights their high social significance. In the structure of morbidity, about 70–80 % of all indicators were determined by the military conscripts. About 70–80 % of the medical-statistical indicators of morbidity in the Russian Armed Forces were determined by 5 groups of mental disorders: the 1st group (organic, including symptomatic, psychiatric disorders, F00–F09 according to ICD-10), 2nd (mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use, F10–F19), 4th (mood (affective) disorders, F30–F39), 5th (anxiety, dissociative, stress-related and somatoform disorders, F40–F48), 7th (disorders of adult personality and behavior, F60–F69). Conclusion. Targeting psychopreventive measures on the disorders of the abovementioned groups and, first of all, on neurotic and somatoform disorders, will contribute to the increase of mental health in servicemen of the Armed Forces of Russia.