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The safety of mefloquine has not been well described in military populations. This study used standard military databases for mefloquine prescriptions and hospitalizations to investigate mefloquine safety among US service members from 2002 through 2004. Mefloquine-prescribed and deployed personnel (N = 8,858) were compared with two reference groups. The reference groups comprised US service members who were not prescribed mefloquine and resided in Europe or Japan (N = 156,203) or had been otherwise deployed (N = 232,381). In comparison with active-duty US service members residing in Europe or Japan, mefloquine-prescribed service members were at statistically significant decreased hazard for any-cause hospitalization, as well as diseases of the respiratory and digestive systems, musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases, injuries and poisonings, ill-defined conditions, and mood disorders. These results suggest there is no association between mefloquine prescriptions and severe health effects, as measured by hospitalizations, across a wide range of outcomes.
Received September 8, 2005. Accepted for publication December 27, 2005.
Acknowledgments: The authors thank Dr. M. David Rudd, Baylor University, for assistance in the design of this study, Scott Seggerman and his team of professionals at the Defense Manpower Data Center, for providing the necessary demographic data; Dr. David Guerin and his team of professionals for providing access to the Military Health Systems Management Analysis and Reporting Tool for both pharmacy data and hospitalization data; and Dr. Roger Gibson and the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board and Dr. Steven Phillips, Director, Deployment Medicine and Surveillance, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs, for providing expertise in study design and for critical review of the manuscript. Dr. Wells had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
This represents report 05–05, supported by the Department of Defense, under work unit no. 60002. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, or the US Government. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
* Address correspondence to Margaret A. K. Ryan, DoD Center for Deployment Health Research, PO Box 85122, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA 92186-5122. E-mail: ryan{at}nhrc.navy.mil
Authors’ addresses: Timothy S. Wells, Building 824, Room 206, 2800 Q Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 45433, E-mail: timothy.wells{at}wpafb.af.mil. Tyler C. Smith, Besa Smith, Linda Z. Wang, Christian J. Hansen, Robert J. Reed, Wendy E. Goldfinger, Thomas E. Corbeil, Christina N. Spooner, and Margaret A. K. Ryan, DoD Center for Deployment Health Research, PO Box 85122, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA 92186-5122, E-mails: Smith{at}nhrc.navy.mil, Besa{at}nhrc.navy.mil, Wang{at}nhrc.navy.mil, Hansen{at}nhrc.navy.mil, Reed{at}nhrc.navy.mil, Wgoldfinger{at}hotmail.com, Tecorbeil{at}hotmail.com, Spooner{at}nhrc.navy.mil, and Ryan{at}nhrc.navy.mil.
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