Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders among Women Veterans with Diabetes
Received 6 July 2008; received in revised form 24 July 2009; accepted 24 July 2009.
Objectives
We sought to estimate the prevalence of mental illness (MI) and substance use disorders (SUD) and determine the predictors of MI/SUD categories among veteran women with diabetes.
Methods
We evaluated a cross-sectional analysis of 16,368 women veterans with diabetes in fiscal 1999 and 2000. SUD, MI, and diabetes were identified using validated algorithms based on diagnosis codes. Chi-square and multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine associations between SUD, MI, demographic, socioeconomic, and health status variables.
Results
Overall, 45% of women had a MI, SUD, or both. SUD rates were high among those with serious MI. The associations between MI/SUD and independent variables were not uniformly significant, except for macrovascular conditions; women veterans were more likely to have combinations of MI/SUD.
Conclusion
A high rate of MI/SUD suggests that care for mental and physical illness needs to be integrated into health care planning and delivery of services to veteran women with diabetes.
aDepartment of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Healthcare System, Center for Health Care Knowledge Management, East Orange, New Jersey
bUniversity of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey- New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey
cDepartment of Veterans Affairs Bedford, Center of Excellence, Bedford, Massachusetts
dUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts
eMorehouse School of Medicine, Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia
Correspondence to: Ranjana Banerjea, PhD, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Ave. NW (mail stop 124), Washington DC 20420; Phone: 202-461-1512; Fax: 202-254-0461.
Supported by grants from Dr. Banerjea (IEA-05-255) and Dr. Pogach, (REA-03-021). The findings and opinions reported here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of any other individuals or organizations.
ABSTRACT