thedrifter
02-20-07, 04:15 PM
Study: PTSD victims twice as likely to smoke
More prone to obesity, alcoholism, as well
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 20, 2007 14:42:31 EST
Researchers looking at years’ worth of reports about the health problems of people with post-traumatic stress disorder found they’re twice as likely to smoke, that as many as half may be diagnosed with alcoholism, and that they are much more likely to be overweight or obese.
The results came out in “PTSD and Health Risk Behavior,” by Miles McFall and Jessica Cook of the Mental Illness Research Center for the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System.
Their report suggests that the heart problems veterans with PTSD face may come from bad lifestyle behaviors, an important finding after a recent report found a high correlation between PTSD and heart problems.
Of those with PTSD, 45 percent smoke, compared to 23 percent of all adults, according to the National Comorbidity Study, McFall and Cook wrote. Another study showed that 53 percent of VA patients with PTSD related to combat smoked more than 25 cigarettes a day. And after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a study found that smokers were more likely to have suffered PTSD than nonsmokers.
Yet another study found that people with PTSD who smoked tended to do so regardless of whether they had a “genetic vulnerability for smoking.”
The National Comorbidity Study also found that 52 percent of people diagnosed with lifetime PTSD have also been diagnosed with alcohol abuse or dependence — twice as much as the adult population — and 35 percent had been diagnosed with drug abuse or dependence, or nearly three times as much as the adult population.
The studies also found those abuse tendencies surfaced quickly after the events that caused the PTSD.
McFall and Cook concluded that may be because people suffering from PTSD tend to self-medicate, which once again backs up the claim that PTSD needs to be treated immediately.
In yet another study, of 221 male veterans with PTSD who sought help, 83 percent were overweight or obese, McFall and Cook wrote, compared with 65 percent of all adults. Female veterans with PTSD were almost twice as likely to be obese than those without PTSD. Researchers determined that weight gain did not come as a result of using psychotropic medications.
“A more likely explanation is the pronounced physical inactivity among those veterans,” McFall and Cook wrote.
Another study showed that 59 percent of male veterans with PTSD exercised for fewer than 40 minutes each week. It’s worse for veteran with diabetes and PTSD: 70 percent were inactive, although that was usually due to chronic pain.
McFall and Cook recommended keeping these issues in mind when treating people with PTSD, and also said health care professionals should check for PTSD in people who come in for substance abuse.
“Early detection and sustained intervention for PTSD should be a standard of care for person primarily seeking help for substance use disorder,” they wrote.
Ellie
More prone to obesity, alcoholism, as well
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 20, 2007 14:42:31 EST
Researchers looking at years’ worth of reports about the health problems of people with post-traumatic stress disorder found they’re twice as likely to smoke, that as many as half may be diagnosed with alcoholism, and that they are much more likely to be overweight or obese.
The results came out in “PTSD and Health Risk Behavior,” by Miles McFall and Jessica Cook of the Mental Illness Research Center for the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System.
Their report suggests that the heart problems veterans with PTSD face may come from bad lifestyle behaviors, an important finding after a recent report found a high correlation between PTSD and heart problems.
Of those with PTSD, 45 percent smoke, compared to 23 percent of all adults, according to the National Comorbidity Study, McFall and Cook wrote. Another study showed that 53 percent of VA patients with PTSD related to combat smoked more than 25 cigarettes a day. And after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a study found that smokers were more likely to have suffered PTSD than nonsmokers.
Yet another study found that people with PTSD who smoked tended to do so regardless of whether they had a “genetic vulnerability for smoking.”
The National Comorbidity Study also found that 52 percent of people diagnosed with lifetime PTSD have also been diagnosed with alcohol abuse or dependence — twice as much as the adult population — and 35 percent had been diagnosed with drug abuse or dependence, or nearly three times as much as the adult population.
The studies also found those abuse tendencies surfaced quickly after the events that caused the PTSD.
McFall and Cook concluded that may be because people suffering from PTSD tend to self-medicate, which once again backs up the claim that PTSD needs to be treated immediately.
In yet another study, of 221 male veterans with PTSD who sought help, 83 percent were overweight or obese, McFall and Cook wrote, compared with 65 percent of all adults. Female veterans with PTSD were almost twice as likely to be obese than those without PTSD. Researchers determined that weight gain did not come as a result of using psychotropic medications.
“A more likely explanation is the pronounced physical inactivity among those veterans,” McFall and Cook wrote.
Another study showed that 59 percent of male veterans with PTSD exercised for fewer than 40 minutes each week. It’s worse for veteran with diabetes and PTSD: 70 percent were inactive, although that was usually due to chronic pain.
McFall and Cook recommended keeping these issues in mind when treating people with PTSD, and also said health care professionals should check for PTSD in people who come in for substance abuse.
“Early detection and sustained intervention for PTSD should be a standard of care for person primarily seeking help for substance use disorder,” they wrote.
Ellie