AFHSC operates the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS), an executive information system whose database contains up-to-date and historical data on diseases and medical events (e.g., hospitalizations, ambulatory visits, reportable diseases, HIV tests, acute respiratory diseases, and health risk appraisals) and longitudinal data on personnel and deployments. AFHSC routinely publishes summaries of notifiable diseases, trends of illnesses of special surveillance interest and field reports describing outbreaks and case occurrences in the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report (MSMR), the principal vehicle for disseminating medical surveillance information of broad interest. Through DMSS, The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center provides the sole link between the DoD Serum Repository and other databases. This repository contains over 50 million frozen serum specimens and is the largest of its kind in the world.

Online Data

Selected Data Tables Integrated within the Defense Medical Surveillance System*

  Table Source Frequency Rows Services Time Period

Person1

DMDC

Monthly

9.0M

All

1990-2009

Demog1

DMDC

Monthly

102.5M

All

1990-2009

MEPS

MEPCOM

Monthly

44.2M

All

1985-2009

Deploy_PGW2

DMDC

Single

681K

All

1990-1991

Deploy3

DMDC

Monthly

3.3M

All

1993-2009

Inpatient8

EI/DS

Monthly

11.6M

All

1990-2009

Deploy_Forms4

AFHSC

Daily

6.3M

All

1994-2009

Outpatient8

EI/DS

Daily

718.7M

All

1996-2009

Immunizations

DEERS

Daily

53.9M

All

1980-2009

Serum

Testing Labs

Weekly

46.1M

All

1985-2009

Casualty6

WHS and AFIP

Quarterly/Monthly

40.6K

All

1985-2009

HRA

CHPPM

Quarterly

785.6K

Army

1990-2003

Reportable Events7

MTFs

Daily

335K

All

1994-2009

Notes

  1. Person / Demog contain all persons serving on active duty and in the reserve component
  2. Deployment roster for Persian Gulf War
  3. Deployment roster for major deployments since PGW
  4. Health assessment questionnaires administered before / after major deployments
  5. Mandatory to routine
  6. Casualty data on active duty deaths
  7. As outlined in the Tri-Service required list of reportable events
  8. Includes medical encounters for active duty, activated Reserves and National Guard

Acronyms

AFIP — Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
CHPPM — United States Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine 
DEERS — Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System
DMDC — Defense Manpower Data Center
EI / DS — Executive Information Decision Support
HRA — Health Risk Appraisals
MEPS — Military Entrance Processing Stations
MTF — Military Treatment Facility
WHS — Washington Headquarters Service