Table 5.
Multivariate meta-regression analyses predicting the magnitude of the effect of war stress on all-cause mortality
| Variable | Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard error imputed (1, yes; 0, no) | 1.18* (1.03–1.35) | 1.25** (1.06–1.48) | 1.00 (0.86–1.16) |
| Proportion of sample that is male | 1.11 (0.94–1.30) | 1.14 (0.97–1.34) | 1.07 (0.91–1.26) |
| Mean age of sample at baseline (in decades) | 1.05* (1.02–1.09) | 1.05** (1.02–1.09) | 1.05* (1.01–1.09) |
| Decades between conflict and beginning of follow-up | 0.98 (0.94–1.02) | 1.01 (0.96–1.07) | 0.97* (0.94–1.00) |
| Follow-up duration (in decades) | 1.01 (0.96–1.05) | 1.00 (0.95–1.05) | 0.98 (0.94–1.02) |
| Controlled for gender | 0.95 (0.84–1.07) | 0.98 (0.87–1.09) | 0.95 (0.85–1.07) |
| Controlled for age | 1.01 (0.92–1.11) | 1.03 (0.94–1.12) | 1.02 (0.93–1.11) |
| Controlled for health | 1.08 (0.91–1.29) | 1.03 (0.87–1.21) | 1.06 (0.90–1.25) |
| Respondent identity (1, civilian; 0, military personnel) | 1.06 (0.91–1.22) | 1.05 (0.92–1.19) | 1.02 (0.84–1.24) |
| Stress type | |||
| Military service in conflict zone | Reference | … | … |
| Concentration camp | 0.75* (0.58–0.97) | … | … |
| Prisoner of war | 0.78* (0.66–0.92) | … | … |
| Other severe conflict (civilian or military) | 0.92 (0.75–1.13) | … | … |
| Conflict | |||
| US Civil War | … | 1.67 (0.92–3.05) | … |
| World War II | … | Reference | … |
| Korean War | … | 0.99 (0.56–1.76) | … |
| Vietnam War | … | 1.44*** (1.20–1.72) | … |
| 1982 Lebanon War | … | 1.53 (0.98–2.38) | … |
| 1991 Gulf War | … | 1.37** (1.10–1.72) | … |
| Balkan Wars | … | 1.55 (0.80–3.01) | … |
| Unknown conflict (Canadian refugees) | … | 1.21 (0.96–1.52) | … |
| Country | |||
| USA | … | … | Reference |
| UK | … | … | 0.82** (0.71–0.93) |
| Australia | … | … | 1.18* (1.02–1.37) |
| Canada | … | … | 1.20 (0.88–1.64) |
| Croatia | … | … | 1.09 (0.56–2.11) |
| Israel | … | … | 0.93 (0.71–1.21) |
| Lebanon | … | … | 1.11 (0.70–1.77) |
| Norway | … | … | 0.98 (0.42–2.29) |
| Constant | 0.82 (0.66–1.01) | 0.56*** (0.40–0.78) | 0.87 (0.71–1.06) |
| R2 | 0.3709 | 0.4399 | 0.4327 |
We present the results for differences in stress type (Model 1), conflict (Model 2) and country (Model 3) in three separate models to account for the problem of multicollinearity between these three important variables.
All meta-regressions calculated by maximum likelihood using a random effects model (n = 219 for each model). Numbers reported are the exponentiated regression coefficients (95% CI). Ellipses indicate where a variable was not included in a model.
*P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001.