Mortality and postcombat disorders: U.K. veterans of the Boer War and World War I.

This study seeks to investigate the mortality rates of U.K. servicemen with postcombat syndromes following the Boer War and World War I.

Flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder: the genesis of a 20th-century diagnosis.

Background: It has been argued that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a timeless condition, which existed before it was codified in modern diagnostic classifications but was described by different names such as 'railway spine' and 'shellshock'. Others have suggested that PTSD is a novel presentation that has resulted from a modern interaction between trauma and culture.

Aims: To test whether one core symptom of PTSD, the flashback, has altered in prevalence over time in soldiers subjected to the intense stress of combat.

Post-combat syndromes from the Boer war to the Gulf war: a cluster analysis of their nature and attribution.

Objectives: To discover whether post-combat syndromes have existed after modern wars and what relation they bear to each other.

Design: Review of medical and military records of servicemen and cluster analysis of symptoms.

Data Sources: Records for 1856 veterans randomly selected from war pension files awarded from 1872 and from the Medical Assessment Programme for Gulf war veterans.