This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Substance abuse may increase mortality risk in veterans with PTSD

Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder who were also struggling with substance use disorders faced a higher risk for death, according to new study results published online. The association was particularly pronounced in younger veterans, including those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Attention needs to be paid to veteran patients with PTSD, with an emphasis on identifying those who might also have a problem with drug or alcohol use,” Kipling M. Bohnert, PhD, a post-doctorate fellow at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Michigan, said in a press release.

Bohnert and colleagues studied a cohort of 272,509 patients who received care from Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services in 2004. Patients were followed from 2005 to 2007. Mortality data was obtained from the CDC’s National Death Index, and PTSD and substance use disorders were determined through the VHA National Patient Care Database.

Substance use disorders were positively associated with mortality (adjusted OR=1.70; 95% CI, 1.64-1.77), and were a stronger predictor of noninjury-related death for those aged 45 years and younger vs. those aged 45 to 64 years or at least 65 years. Substance use disorders were also predictive of injury-related mortality for all age groups in the study.

Frederic C. Blow, PhD, another of the study’s researchers and director of Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center at the VA, said the results have important clinical implications.

“In theory, a treatment program that addresses both issues — substance use and PTSD — should reduce the risk of death from all causes, and this may be especially true for the nation’s youngest veterans,” he said.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.