Cypel, Yasmin S, Vogt, Dawne, Maguen, Shira et al. · Preventive medicine reports · 2023 · DOI
This study compared the health of post-9/11 military veterans to non-veterans in the United States and found that veterans experience significantly higher rates of several health conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), back and neck pain, hearing loss, and traumatic brain injury. Women and men veterans had different patterns of illness—for example, female veterans reported more cases of CFS and other conditions, while male veterans had more heart-related problems. The researchers suggest that national health guidelines should better account for veterans' specific health needs.
This study documents a significantly elevated prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in post-9/11 veterans (3–6 times higher than nonveterans), suggesting that military service and related exposures may be risk factors for CFS development. These findings highlight the need for targeted clinical recognition and support for veterans with CFS and emphasize that national health guidelines must address conditions disproportionately affecting veteran populations.
This cross-sectional study cannot establish causation—it cannot prove that military service *causes* CFS or other conditions, only that they co-occur more frequently in veterans. The self-reported nature of data may introduce recall bias or misreporting. The study does not explain the mechanisms linking veteran status to CFS or identify which military exposures (combat, occupational, environmental) are responsible.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Cypel, Yasmin S, Vogt, Dawne, Maguen, Shira, Bernhard, Paul, Lowery, Elizabeth, Culpepper, William J, et al. (2023). Physical health of Post-9/11 U.S. Military veterans in the context of Healthy People 2020 targeted topic areas: Results from the Comparative Health Assessment Interview Research Study.. Preventive medicine reports. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102122
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cypel-2023-physical-health,
author = {Cypel, Yasmin S and Vogt, Dawne and Maguen, Shira and Bernhard, Paul and Lowery, Elizabeth and Culpepper, William J and Armand-Gibbs, Irvine and Schneiderman, Aaron I},
title = {Physical health of Post-9/11 U.S. Military veterans in the context of Healthy People 2020 targeted topic areas: Results from the Comparative Health Assessment Interview Research Study.},
journal = {Preventive medicine reports},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102122},
note = {PubMed: 36922958},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cypel-2023-physical-health},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cypel-2023-physical-health
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