Poor sleep after military deployment: associations with mental health difficulties - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2016 Nov 1;66(8):669-675.

doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqw116.

Affiliations

• PMID: 27543646
• DOI: 10.1093/occmed/kqw116

Poor sleep after military deployment: associations with mental health difficulties

E J F Hunt et al. Occup Med (Lond). 2016.

Abstract

Background: Sleep difficulties, alcohol use and mental illness are often related; military studies suggest that post-deployment is a high-risk period for sleep problems.

Aims: To examine the prevalence of post-deployment sleep difficulties in UK Armed Forces (UKAF) personnel and associations with alcohol use disorders (AUD) and any mental disorder (AMD) symptoms.

Methods: A prospective, self-report, observational study of UKAF members returning from Afghanistan, questionnaire data were collected immediately following and 6 months post-deployment.

Results: A total of 1636 participants provided study data at both time points. Twenty-three per cent of personnel reported sleep difficulties at follow-up; 11% reported sleep-related interference with daily functioning. Sleep problems were significantly associated with AUD and AMD. Initial post-deployment sleep problems were predictive of AMD but not AUD at follow-up.

Conclusions: The disclosure of alcohol misuse and mental ill-health in UKAF personnel is often inhibited by stigmatizing beliefs; detection could be enhanced by inquiring about sleep problems which may be less stigmatizing than direct enquiries about alcohol misuse and psychological well-being.

Keywords: Alcohol; common mental disorder; military; occupation; sleep..

© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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