Study Links Purple Heart Veterans with Low Mortality

A recent study by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) found that older veterans who earned a Purple Heart live longer than their comrades who were not injured while serving. VA researchers believe that these results may help understand why some servicemembers seem more resilient to combat-induced stress or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Study may help future servicemembers prepare for stress and trauma of war

For the study, a team of VA researchers looked at more than 10,000 World War II and Korean War Veterans who were aged 65 or older in the late 1990s and tracked them until 2008. The study found that those with Purple Heart citations, regardless of whether they had developed PTSD, were about twice as likely to be alive by the end of the study as those with no Purple Heart and no PTSD.

The finding was significant because previous research has linked PTSD to higher mortality rates. Surprisingly, researchers also found that Purple Heart holders with PTSD had slightly lower mortality rates than those without PTSD. Researchers speculate that the veterans with PTSD included in the study may have been healthier initially than their counterparts who died before reaching age 65.

For more information on the VA study, refer to the press release "In Purple Heart Medal, Researchers Seek Clues to Combat Stress Resilience & Longer Life."

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