Co-occurring mental health and alcohol misuse: Dual disorder symptoms in combat injured veterans

•37.3% of injured veterans with a mental health problem reported alcohol misuse.•PTSD and depression symptoms were significant correlates of alcohol misuse.•Higher health complaints in those with dual disorder than mental health alone.

ObjectiveService members face difficulties during military deployment potentially resulting in morbidities such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and alcohol misuse. The co-occurrence of alcohol misuse and mental health disorders is termed dual disorder and has been associated with adverse outcomes.MethodsThe study included 812 high-risk (i.e., endorsing combat exposure with documented combat injury) male U.S. veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, injured between October 2004 and November 2007, identified from the Expeditionary Medical Encounter Database.ResultsPTSD and depression symptoms were significant correlates of alcohol misuse. Veterans with dual disorder symptoms reported a significantly higher mean number of health complaints on the Post-Deployment Health Reassessment compared with those endorsing only mental health symptoms.ConclusionsThese results highlight how mental health disorders among injured service members increases the odds of problem drinking and those with dual disorder have elevated health complaints.