Do cormorbid mental health and alcohol sub-groups exist within the NI military veteran population

Introduction: The Northern Irish (NI) veteran population has been excluded from veteran and military research due to security concerns relating to sectarian conflict within NI. According to National Survey data there is a trend for drinking at risker levels within NI, particularly for whose over 66 years old. Furthermore, rates of poor mental health (MH) are high. Commonly, drinking and MH difficulties are comorbid, which is particularly the case for veterans. In order that NI veterans may be supported effectively it is important to understand what comorbidities exist, in order that appropriate interventions are targeted at the NI veteran population.

Methods: Latent Class Analysis was conducted on secondary data survey responses of 609 NI veterans. Six scales of MH and alcohol use were included (anxiety, alcohol, depression, PTSD, complex PTSD and dissociative sub-type).

Results: Four distinct classes were elicited: Class 1 (n=62, 10.18%), the high depression/anxiety class; Class 2 (n=120, 19.7%) the highly comorbid class; Class 3 (n=61, 10.02%) the high PTSD with moderate alcohol and depression class; and Class 4 (n=366, 60.1%) the low comorbidity with moderate alcohol class.

Discussion: Three classes displayed moderate to high levels of depression and PTSD, with likelihood being slightly higher for depression. No class had high levels of alcohol use but all classes had moderate alcohol use, including those with low MH difficulty endorsements. Findings suggest there are distinct sub-groups with specific comorbidities present within the NI veteran population, therefore interventions should aim to address those specific comorbidities. It of great concern that a high proportion of the sample scored as having likely or actual ill MH. It is equally worrying that the majority drank alcohol excessively regardless of whether a MH difficulty existed. Whether the two main issues are military specific, general population specific (or both) warrants further investigation.