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COVARIATES, CONFOUNDERS, AND CONSISTENCY: CHARACTERIZING THE VIETNAM VETERAN FOR 29 EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES regions listed above. Approximately 26% of the cohort identified themselves as black; about 52% as Hispanic (white). The results of the effort are described in the contractor's final report (Stellman and Stellman, 2003). The Columbia University researchers have prepared papers intended for publication in peer-reviewed journals regarding both the enduring effect of combat exposure with respect to PTSD and the more general health and well-being effects of combat exposure among American Legion members. They assessed the validity of veteran recall in this longitudinal cohort and have found a high level of agreement between questionnaires responses from 1984 and 1998. The work is described in their final report (Stellman and Stellman, 2003). STUDY OF WOMEN VETERANS In response to the committee's request that the researchers study the generalizability of their survey and conclusions, the researchers also constructed a study of women veterans. Women shared some stressors with men but were also exposed to unique stressors related either to their occupational assignments or to their sex, and these stressors could have had a lasting effect on their physical and mental health. The researchers were provided with an unexpected opportunity by the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation (VWMF)17 to use its membership database to carry out an extensive study of nearly 2,500 military and civilian women who served in Vietnam. To obtain wartime location data on the respondents, a comprehensive list was developed containing military units in which large numbers of women were known to have served; a large proportion of women veterans served as nurses or in other medical roles, so many of the locations were hospitals and other medical facilities. The researchers also used focus groups to ensure that they covered subjects of relevance and concern to women veterans, and they included questions that were relevant to the experiences of nonmilitary women who served with the Red Cross and other nongovernment 17 VWMF (previously called the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project) is a nonprofit organization that, among other missions, is seeking to identify the military and civilian women who served during the Vietnam War, to educate the public about their role, and to facilitate research on the physiologic, psychological, and sociologic issues correlated to their service.
