Accession Medical Standards Analysis and Research Activity (AMSARA), 2016 Annual Report

Abstract : AMSARA 's mission is to support the development of evidence based medical standards for the Department of Defense by guiding the improvement of medical and administrative databases, conducting epidemiologic analyses, and integrating relevant operational, clinical, and economic considerations into policy recommendations. The report includes: One manuscript compares two analytic approaches for examining the relationship between accession characteristics and risk of attrition in the accessed population. Two manuscripts focus on the Assessment of Recruit Motivation and Strength (ARMS) population, examining risk of asthma and healthcare utilization in this cohort. The final manuscript focuses on the population of accessions who took the Tailored Adaptive Personality Assessment System (TAPAS) test, studying the risk of musculoskeletal injuries in this population. Descriptive statistics are for applicants who enlisted in FY15 and are compared to the five-year aggregate data from FY2010-2014. Data are collected while the recruits are in their first year of service. By convention, the annual report is dated for the first complete year after enlistment (FY 2016). Comparisons can be made both between services and between enlisted components (active, reserve, NG).