The women in the groups generally preferred VA women’s clinics for comprehensive medical care but had mixed reactions to VA’s reproductive care. Many had gaps in their knowledge about what kind of care was available at VA and perceived some kind of gender discrimination in their experiences with the department. They also believed that VA should provide additional coverage for advanced infertility care and for newborns.

Mattocks KM, Nikolajski C, Haskell S, Brandt C, McCall-Hosenfeld J, Yano E, Pham T, Borrero S. Women veterans' reproductive health preferences and experiences: a focus group analysis. Women’s Health Issues. 2011 Mar-Apr;21(2):124-9. PubMed PMID: 21353978. 

Gender Comparison of OEF/OIF TBI Patients

Initial research has shown that men and women respond differently to combat injury, and TBI is no different. A population-based study conducted by the Women’s Health Sciences Division of VA’s National Center for PTSD looked at psychiatric diagnoses among OEF/OIF TBI patients of both genders and found significant gender differences in conditions and symptom severity following TBI.

The study looked at diagnoses and self-reported neurobehavioral symptoms in 12,605 OEF/OIF veterans evaluated for deployment-related TBI. Of these, 11,951 were men and 654 were women.

PTSD was the most common psychiatric condition for both genders, though women were less likely to have a PTSD diagnosis. However, women were twice as likely to have a depression diagnosis and 1.3 times more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorder. They were also 50% more likely to have PTSD with comorbid depression. According to researchers, blast exposure during deployment may account for some of these differences.

Iverson KM, Hendricks AM, Kimerling R, Krengel M, Meterko M, Stolzmann KL, Baker E, Pogoda TK, Vasterling JJ, Lew HL. Psychiatric Diagnoses and Neurobehavioral Symptom Severity among OEF/OIF VA Patients with Deployment-Related Traumatic Brain Injury: A Gender Comparison. Womens Health Issues. 2011 Jul-Aug;21(4 Suppl):S210-7. PubMed PMID: 21724143; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3132395. 

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