ORCID
Alexa Deyo: 0000-0001-5098-0498
Kyle White:0000-0001-5781-3780
Joon Kyung Nam: 0000-0002-5022-5801
Victoria Carlin:0009-0009-5119-1939
Grant Ripley:0009-0006-6800-0922
Joseph Ditre: 0000-0002-8914-6908
Document Type
Poster
Date
4-10-2025
Keywords
Chronic pain, Alcohol, Veterans, Combat, Sleep disturbances
Department
Psychology
Campus Community
Center for Health Behavior Research and Innovation
Language
English
Disciplines
Military and Veterans Studies
Description/Abstract
Introduction: Pain-related sleep disturbances (PRSD) may contribute to patterns of alcohol consumption that elevate risk for negative health outcomes among U.S. military veterans with chronic pain, with this association potentially heightened among those who experienced combat. We are not aware of any prior research that examined either relations between PRSD and hazardous alcohol use among veterans, or the potential influence of combat exposure. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that PRSD would be positively associated with hazardous drinking among veterans, and that combat exposure would moderate this relationship. Method: Participants included 430 U.S. veterans (Mage = 56.71  14.8; 23.7% female) with chronic pain who endorsed past-month alcohol use and completed a Qualtrics Panel survey. Results: PRSD was positively associated with hazardous alcohol use (B = .357, p = .018) after controlling for age, sex, and chronic pain intensity. This relationship was moderated by combat exposure, with stronger associations observed among combat-exposed veterans (B = .909, p < .001) compared to deployed veterans without combat exposure (B = .633, p < .001) and veterans with no deployment history (B = .357, p = .018). Discussion: Results indicate that U.S. veterans with chronic pain may be at increased risk of hazardous alcohol use due to PRSD, perhaps especially among combat-exposed veterans. These findings underscore the need for routine PRSD screening and tailored interventions that address both sleep disturbances and hazardous drinking to improve health outcomes among veterans.
Recommended Citation
Deyo, A. G., White, K. M., Kyung Nam, J., Carlin, V. E., Ripley, G. H., & Ditre, J. W. (2025, April 10). Pain-Related Sleep Disturbance and Hazardous Alcohol Use Among Veterans with Chronic Pain [Poster presentation]. 2025 Voices of Service Research Fair, National Veterans Resource Center, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, United States.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
