Prevalence, Correlates, and Predictors of Insomnia in the US Army prior to Deployment.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence, correlates, and predictors of insomniain US Army personnel prior to deployment. METHODS: Cross-sectional cohort design assessing insomniaand other psychosocial variables in active dutyservice members (N = 4,101), at Fort Hood, Texas, prior to military deployment. Insomniawas defined as an InsomniaSeverity Index ≥15. RESULTS: The prevalence of insomniawas 19.9%. Enlisted personnel were five times more likely to report insomniathan officers (odds ratio [OR] =5.17). Insomniawas higher among American Indian/ Alaskan Nativesthan other groups (ORs = 1.86-2.85). Those in the InsomniaGroup were older, had longer military careers, and reported more marriages, children, and military deployments(ds = 0.13-0.34) than the No Insomniagroup. The InsomniaGroup reported more severe mental health symptoms, more recent stressful life events, greater childhood abuse, and lower levels of trait resilience, social support, and unit cohesion (Cohen ds=0.27-1.29). After controlling for covariates, the InsomniaGroup was more likely to have a history of head injuries and clinically significant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, alcohol use problems, back pain, extremity pain, headaches, and fatigue (ORs = 1.40-3.30). A simultaneous logistic regression found that greater PTSD, depression, fatigue, stressful life events, headaches, anxiety, alcohol use problems, extremity pain, history of head injury, childhood physical neglect, back pain, number of times married, and lower leader support/unit cohesion and tangible social support were statistically significant predictors of insomniastatus. CONCLUSIONS: Insomniaoccurs in about one of five service members prior to a military deploymentand is associated with a wide array of psychosocial stressors and mental and physical health problems.Copyright © 2016 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC. All rights reserved. Language: en