Health effects of war stress on Norwegian World War II resistance groups: a comparative study.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which adverse long-term health effects of World War II stress exposure were present in 3 groups of resistance veterans. The groups had been exposed to different types of war stressors: concentration camp incarceration, resistance participation within the illegal press, and a secret military organization. With the differences in war stressors as a basis, we assumed that those incarcerated in a concentration camp would display more adverse health effect compared to the resistance veterans. The findings point to a relationship between the severity of war stressors and postwar health in all 3 groups.