Association between participation in combat operations and the risk of comorbid cardiometabolic and cardiovascular diseases in veterans of the Afghan war

Abstract

Recently, socio-political and economic transformations in the world community have led to an increase in the number of interethnic, religious, territorial and a number of other conflicts. These contradictions and the increase in the number of armed clashes lead to disruption of people’s mental and physical health. In addition, cardiovascular diseases occupy a leading position in Kazakhstan, as well as throughout the world, in the structure of disability and the increase in premature mortality among adults. Thus, as a result of the study, we identified a high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in veterans of the Afghan War, where arterial hypertension (AH) was most often diagnosed in 55.9% and coronary heart disease (CHD) in 30.7% of veterans. On the other hand, the number of problems of comorbid conditions is increasing in those studied with IHD and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) (in 100%), in second place is IHD and hypertension (in 82.4%), next in frequency is osteoarthritis (OA) (in 35.8%), neuropsychiatric disorders (in 27.5%), diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2 (in 18.3%). Accordingly, the clinical picture of the disease changes, which leads to an increase in the frequency of hospitalizations, the duration of inpatient treatment, and the effectiveness of drug therapy for patients decreases.

Thus, despite the length of time that has passed, the traumatic event continues to affect the psycho-emotional and physiological state of war veterans, becoming chronic. Mainly reflected in the form of disorders of cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases, complicated by combined pathologies. The need for earlier identification of individuals with cardiac and metabolic diseases and optimization of rehabilitation interventions remains an important area of research to ensure appropriate care and support the overall well-being and quality of life of veterans.