Associations between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Quality of Life and Alcohol Misuse among UK Veterans

Abstract

Prior research has shown that those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have persistent reductions in quality of life (QoL), and higher rates of alcohol misuse. As such, it is important that we explore QoL and alcohol misuse on PTSD diagnosis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the association between PTSD, QoL and alcohol misuse among United Kingdom (UK) veterans. 163 UK veterans who sought help for a mental health disorder were recruited to take part. Linear regressions were used to assess the association between probable PTSD, QoL and alcohol misuse. Pearson’s correlation analyses were used to assess the relationship between PTSD symptom clusters and QoL domains. We found unadjusted regressions showed evidence that, compared to those without PTSD, those with PTSD had lower QoL scores on physical health, psychosocial, social relationships and environment domains. Adjusting for age, sex, and outcome variables, only associations with the physical health domain and psychosocial domain remained statistically significant. Correlation analyses between PTSD and QoL domains showed the strongest negative correlations between the functional impairment and physical health domain, and between the functional impairment and psychosocial domain. We found that those with probable PTSD had lower QoL and higher alcohol misuse scores.

Keywords:

• Veteran
• armed forces
• PTSD
• alcohol misuse
• quality of life
• digital technology
• physical health
• social relationship
• mental health

Data availability

Researchers may apply to access a pseudonymized dataset. Requests to access study data are subject to submission of a research proposal to the corresponding author. All requests must be made in accordance with the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care research.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (Project number: FIMT/0323KCL), a funding scheme run by the Forces in Mind Trust using an endowment awarded by the National Lottery Community Fund. DM is a trustee for the Forces in Mind Trust (the funder of this project). NTF sits on the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data at NHS Digital. NTF is also a trustee of a military-related charity. AS is a full-time member of the Armed Forces seconded to King’s College London. DL is a reservist in the UK AF. This work has been undertaken as part of his civilian employment. DM and CW are employed by Combat Stress, a national charity in the United Kingdom that provides clinical mental health services to veterans. NTF is partly funded by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence. DL is partly funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Center. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care, or the UK Ministry of Defence.