Citation

Caldwell JA, Knapik JJ, Shing TL, Kardouni JR, Lieberman HR. Sleep 2019; 42(8): ePub.

Affiliation

Military Nutrition Division, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Publisher Associated Professional Sleep Societies)

DOI

10.1093/sleep/zsz112

PMID

31106808

Abstract

Since 2001, the United States (US) has been engaged in the longest and most expensive overseas conflict in its history. Sleep disorders, especially insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), are common in service members, and appear related to deployment and combat exposure, but this has not been systematically examined. Therefore, the incidence of clinically-diagnosed insomnia and OSA from 1997 to 2011 in the entire population of US Army soldiers was determined and associations of these disorders with deployment and combat exposure examined. This observational retrospective cohort study linked medical, demographic, deployment, and combat casualty data from all active duty US Army soldiers serving from 1997-2011 (n = 1,357,150). The mediating effects of multiple known comorbid conditions were considered. From 2003 to 2011, there were extraordinary increases in incidence of insomnia (652%) and OSA (600%). Factors increasing insomnia risk were deployment (risk ratio [RR] [deployed/not deployed] = 2.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.04-2.08) and combat exposure (RR [exposed/not exposed] = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.19-1.22). Risk of OSA was increased by deployment (RR [deployed/not deployed] = 2.14; 95% CI, 2.11-2.17), but not combat exposure (RR [exposed/not exposed] = 1.00; 95% CI, 0.98-1.02). These relationships remained after accounting for other factors in multivariable analyses. A number of comorbid medical conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury mediated a portion of the association between the sleep disorders and deployment. It is essential to determine underlying mechanisms responsible for these very large increases in insomnia and OSA and introduce effective preventive measures.

© Sleep Research Society 2019. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].

Language: en

Keywords

Post-traumatic stress disorder; anxiety; comorbidities; depression; mediation analysis; traumatic brain injury