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Military Veterans See Sleep Disorders Rate Rise Significantly in Last Decade

A recent study on sleep disorders, military veterans, and PTSD shows that these disorders have increased considerably in the last decade. The study involved over 9.7 million United States military veterans and the results showed that in 2010 vets had a risk of developing sleep disorders which was more than 6 times what the rate was in 2000. Because patients with PTSD, or those who had combat experience or another mental disorder, had the greatest rate increase the connection between these conditions is hard to ignore. During the study period the PTSD prevalence among vets also tripled. Study participants with chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and others also had higher rates of sleep disorders as well.

University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics associate professor, senior study author, and principal investigator James Burch, Ph.D., discussed the study on sleep disorders, military veterans, and PTSD. Burch explained that “Veterans with PTSD had a very high sleep disorder prevalence of 16 percent, the highest among the various health conditions or other population characteristics that we examined. Because of the way this study was designed, this does not prove that PTSD caused the increase in sleep disorder diagnoses. However, we recently completed a follow-up study, soon to be submitted for publication, that examined this issue in detail. In that study, a pre-existing history of PTSD was associated with an increased odds of sleep disorder onset.” The study results must be viewed with the fact that 93% of the study participants were men while only 7% were women.

Research Shows Alcohol Abuse in Military Veterans May be Triggered by Civilian Life Stress

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alcohol abuse, military veterans

New research shows that military veterans may engage in alcohol abuse due to the stressors of civilian life, and that this is a higher risk for military veterans than for civilians. National Guard soldiers who returned home after leaving the service were far more likely to engage in alcohol abuse if they experienced setbacks in their civilian life. Some of the biggest stresses included serious legal issues, divorce, the loss of a job, or serious financial problems like bankruptcy or home foreclosure. The results of this study can be found online in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. Military veterans who return home are at a higher risk of alcohol abuse when life gets tough and civilian stress is high, and in depth help is needed to help these vets acclimate to the stress of civilian life.

Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University Magdalena Cerdá, PH.D., MPH, who was the lead study investigator, discussed the findings regarding military veterans and alcohol abuse. “Exposure to the traumatic event itself has an important effect on mental health in the short-term, but what defines long-term mental health problems is having to deal with a lot of daily life difficulties that arise in the aftermath — when soldiers come home. The more traumatic events soldiers are exposed to during and after combat, the more problems they are likely to have in their daily life — in their relationships, in their jobs — when they come home. These problems can in turn aggravate mental health issues, such as problems with alcohol that arise during and after deployment.”