Lightning-associated injuries and deaths among military personnel--United States, 1998-2001.

After flooding, lightning is the second leading cause of weather-related death in the United States; approximately 300 injuries and 100 deaths are associated annually with lightning strikes in the United States. To characterize lightning-associated injuries and deaths among U.S. Armed Forces personnel, the U.S. Army and CDC analyzed data from the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS). This that the highest lightning-related injury rates during 1998-2001 occurred among male U.S. military members who were aged <40 years, single, with a high school education or less, stationed near the Gulf of Mexico or the East Coast, and in the U.S. Army. The findings suggest that the risk for lightning-associated injury depends primarily on the frequency, timing, duration, and nature of outdoor exposure to thunderstorms. Military personnel should be aware of severe weather onset and take reasonable precautions to protect themselves and their companions from exposure to lightning.