War Injury Compensation Delays and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Initiation Among Eritrean Veterans: A Target-Trial Emulation of Disability Pension Adjudication Timing

Eritrean veterans with war-related injuries often wait years for disability pension adjudication, and clinical observation suggests that many initiate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment only after their compensation claim is resolved. The analysis characterises the operating characteristics of the design across 2000 replications per cell for cluster counts of 8, 16, 24 and 32 and effect sizes of 3, 5 and 8 percentage points. Power curves, minimum detectable effect estimates and receiver operating characteristic summaries are reported. The design requires 54 clusters to detect a 5-percentage-point effect at 80% power. Adjudication timing is a modifiable structural exposure whose effect on treatment initiation can be identified through target-trial logic, and that the BACI design provides a defensible framework for evaluating administrative delays as determinants of mental health service use in post-conflict settings.