b'are each common among U.S. military veterans andofknowledgemakesitdifficulttofindeffective frequentlyco-occur(i.e.,PTSD+AUD).Althoughinterventions. 3comorbid PTSD+AUD is generally associated withThestudyteamanalyzeddatafromanationally worse outcomes relative to either diagnosis alone,representativesampleof4,069veterans3,463 some studies suggest the added burden of comorbidmales and 479 femalescompleting an online sur-PTSD+AUD is greater relative to AUD-alone thanvey.ResearchersusedtheAlcoholUseDisorder to PTSD-alone. Identification Test to identify veterans who screened Writing in the Journal of Affective Disorders, thepositiveforprobableAUD(pAUD),whileself-authorsfurtherpointedoutthatnonsuicidalself- reportedheightandweightwasusedtocalculate injury (NSSI) is more common among veterans thanbody mass index and identify veterans with obesity.assumed, although it is rarely measured as a veteranMultinomial logistic regression was used to exam-psychiatric health outcome2 ine differences between four groups:Theirstudysoughttocomparepsychosocial controls (no current AUD or obesity), functioning,suicideriskandNSSIamongveter-pAUD only, ans screening positive for PTSD, AUD, comorbid obesity only, and PTSD+AUD and neither disorder. To do that, they analyzed data from a national sample of 1,046 U.S. pAUD + obesity. veteranswhohadservedduringtheGulfWar. AOf the participants, 36.1% had obesity, 10.5% had mailed survey was used to gather sociodemographic,pAUD, and 3.7% had both.functioning and clinical information. Compared to veterans without AUD, veterans with AUD With PTSD pAUD were found to be less likely to have normal/VeteranswithprobablePTSD+AUDreportedlean weight (14.6% vs. 21.4%) and more likely to worse psychosocial functioning across multiple do- have overweight (49.6% vs. 41.7%).mains compared to veterans with probable AUD,Veterans with pAUD plus obesity also were nearly but only worse functioning related to controllingtwice as likely than veterans with pAUD to report violent behavior when compared to veterans withthreeormoreadversechildhoodexperiences,the probable PTSD, researchers wrote. Veterans withauthors added.probable PTSD+AUD reported greater suicidal ide- The results of this study help inform the clinical ation and NSSI than veterans with probable AUD,presentation and needs of veterans with co-occurring but fewer prior suicide attempts than veterans withobesityand AUD,researchersconcluded.They probable PTSD. also underscore the importance of regularly monitor-They went on to state that their findings highlighting weight among veterans with AUD and consider-the importance of delivering evidence-based treat- ing the role of childhood adversity as a risk factor for co-occurring AUD and obesity.ment to this veteran population. The authors cau- 1tioned, however, that their study was cross-sectional, Panza KE, Kline AC, Na PJ, Potenza MN, Norman SB, Pietrzak RH. Epidemiology of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder in U.S. military relied on self-report, did not verify clinical diagno- veterans: Results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans ses, and might not generalize to veterans of otherStudy. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2022 Feb 1;231:109240. doi: 10.1016/j.military conflicts. drugalcdep.2021.109240. Epub 2021 Dec 27. PMID: 34974271. Another recent study discussed how veterans have2Blakey SM, Griffin SC, Grove JL, Peter SC, Levi RD, Calhoun high rates of both obesity and AUD, which oftenPS, Elbogen EB, Beckham JC, Pugh MJ, Kimbrel NA. Comparing psychosocial functioning, suicide risk, and nonsuicidal self-injury co-occur.ResearchersfromtheVAConnecticutbetween veterans with probable posttraumatic stress disorder and HealthcareSysteminWestHavendecriedthat,alcohol use disorder. J Affect Disord. 2022 Apr 7;308:10-18. doi: even though the conditions are prevalent and costly,10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.006. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35398395. information about clinical correlates between the3Carr MM, Serowik KL, Na PJ, Potenza MN, Martino S, Masheb two is lacking. RM, Pietrzak RH. Co-occurring alcohol use disorder and obesity in U.S. military veterans: Prevalence, risk factors, and clinical features. TheirstudyrecentlypublishedintheJournalofJ Psychiatr Res. 2022 Mar 24;150:64-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsy-PsychiatricResearchpointedoutthatthedearthchires.2022.03.039. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35358833.53'