Combat Trauma from the Past: Data portray Civil War’s mental, physical fallout
By Bruce Bower
Thanks to extensive military and medical records for Union Army veterans of the U.S. Civil War, a research team has determined that soldiers who saw many of their comrades killed or who were prisoners of war experienced a greater incidence of serious physical and mental ailments later in life and died at younger ages than other veterans did.
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The link between harrowing combat experiences and various postwar illnesses and death was strongest among younger groups of soldiers, reaching a peak in those who had enlisted between ages 9 and 17, say Judith Pizarro of the University of California, Irvine and her colleagues.