A medical study of long-term chronic pain in combat veterans found unexpected results among two groups: not only are women who faced heavy combat overseas more likely to develop chronic pain later in life, but so were the female spouses back home. (U.S. Army courtesy photo/Released) Courtesy Photo A medical study of long-term chronic pain in combat veterans found troubling results for two groups of women: not only were women who faced heavy combat overseas more likely to develop chronic pain later in life, but so were female spouses back home whose husbands faced higher levels of violence.

The new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association or JAMA, analyzed chronic pain diagnoses for women who deployed into combat zones and female dependents of U.S. troops who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006 to 2013, the height of combat rotations for both wars. Researchers then compared incidents of chronic pain to similar groups whose deployments or spouse’s deployments were between 2014 to 2020, when troops saw less combat frequency.

“The main takeaway from the study is that heightened rigors of deployment, as we saw during the combination of the Iraq war troop surge and the troop surge that followed in Afghanistan, has an outsized effect on the development of chronic pain conditions down the road in active duty service women,” said Andrew Schoenfeld, the lead researcher. “But then also, this was the surprising part, an even higher magnitude when looking at the women who are civilian dependents of active duty service members.”

The findings suggest a stronger link between the mental health tolls of combat and chronic pain, even for those not directly exposed to combat, like military spouses. Researchers also found that chronic pain was more likely for those with previous behavioral health issues.

According to John Hopkins Medicine , chronic pain is defined as “long standing pain that persists beyond the usual recovery period or occurs along with a chronic health condition, such as arthritis.” Chronic pain can come in waves or be continuous and “may affect people to the point that they can’t work, eat properly, […]

Female veterans of heavier combat face more chronic pain, as do spouses back home