Mansell D, Kazis L, Miller D, Skinner K, Spiro A, Clark J.

AHSR FHSR Annu Meet Abstr Book. 1994; 11: 140-1.

Division of General Internal Medicine, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Brown University School of Medicine, Pawtucket 02860.

PROBLEM AND OBJECTIVES. Quality of life (QOL) is an important outcome in the treatment of many chronic medical and psychiatric conditions. We report preliminary results from the Veterans Health Study (VHS) on QOL in patients with alcohol disorders with or without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). DATA AND METHODS. The VHS is a survey and followup of veterans at four Boston VA outpatient clinics. 311 patients were sampled prior to the main study. Patients who answered yes to two or more CAGE items and had a drink in the past month were defined as having an alcohol disorder. PTSD symptoms related to combat were measured by the 11 item Mississippi short form. 17 of 57 alcohol patients had PTSD. Comorbidities included diabetes, hypertension, chronic lung disease, depression, knee osteoarthritis, and low back pain. Eight QOL subscales were measured with the SF-36. Next, general linear models were constructed for each SF-36 scale as a dependent variable, with presence or absence of combat related PTSD, age, and a simple sum of comorbidities as covariates. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS. R 2 for all the SF-36 subscales were significant except for physical function. The models with the most explanatory power were mental health and social function subscales, both with R 2=0.28. Age correlated positively with mental health, social function, and role function-emotional subscales, but PTSD correlated negatively with all of the subscales except physical function. The effect of comorbidities was dwarfed by the effect of PTSD. IMPLICATIONS FOR AUDIENCE: PTSD may play an important role in QOL for veterans with alcohol disorders. Clinicians and mental health researchers should consider the role of PTSD in treatment outcomes of patients with alcohol disorders.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Animals
• Boston
• Comorbidity
• Depression
• Depressive Disorder
• Humans
• Life
• Mental Disorders
• Mental Health
• Mississippi
• Quality of Life
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Veterans
• hsrmtgs

Other ID:

• HTX/94911061

UI: 102212208

From Meeting Abstracts