Long-Term Follow-up Study of Bilateral Above-the-Knee Amputees from the Vietnam War*†

Bilateral Transfemoral/Transtibial Amputations Due to Battle Injuries: A Comparison of Vietnam Veterans with Iraq and Afghanistan Servicemembers

“…This finding is consistent with other studies in other amputee populations reporting decreased activities of young patients who sustain multiple limb loss as they progress throughout life [10][11][12][13].…”

“…While those with multiple limb loss due to battle injury have been documented to constitute between 2% and 16% of all major amputees, a recent report shows that rate may be as high as 30% [17,21]. Because of their frequency [9,10,13,14,17,20] and their more complex care [4,5,18], it seems important to characterize the different levels of multiple limb loss for both treatment and prognosis.…”

Quality of life for veterans and servicemembers with major traumatic limb loss from Vietnam and OIF/OEF conflicts

“…Prior studies have found that, in comparison with matched controls, veterans from the Vietnam and Korean war conflicts with combat-associated limb loss report lower physical and physical role functioning [25], more pain [24], and increased use of psychological support services [26]. While we found these associations in the univariate analysis of our survey data, after controlling for other variables, lower function and pain were not associated with QOL.…”

“…Prior research on QOL among veterans and servicemembers with combat-associated limb loss is limited [24][25][26]. Dougherty followed 23 Vietnam war veterans with bilateral transfemoral amputations for a mean of 25 years and compared them with age-and sex-matched controls but found few differences using standardized questionnaires on mental and physical health, except that those with limb loss had significantly lower physical functioning scores [25].…”

“…Dougherty followed 23 Vietnam war veterans with bilateral transfemoral amputations for a mean of 25 years and compared them with age-and sex-matched controls but found few differences using standardized questionnaires on mental and physical health, except that those with limb loss had significantly lower physical functioning scores [25]. In another study reported by Dougherty,72 Vietnam war veterans with transtibial amputations were followed for a mean of 28 years and compared with controls.…”