Background: The Tennessee veterans represents 8.3 percent of state’s adult population, these includes the service members from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Some of the research done on veterans shows that approximately 14% to 16% of U.S. service members deployed suffer from mental health challenges like PTSD or depression and substance abuse. The issue of mental health and substance abuse worsen among veterans populations while transitioning to civil life. The mental health symptoms among 1,239 American veterans assessed online one month prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States through next year shows slight increase in mental health symptoms over time. The proposed study examines the association between veteran status and depression, alcohol use, and smoking in Tennessee.
Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System a nationally representative U.S. telephone-based survey of adults aged 18 years and extracted data for Tennessee (n=4,788). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the association between coronary artery disease and depression. We controlled for past month income, race/ethnicity, educational status, gender, and age.
Results: Overall, among U.S. military veterans 23.7% (n=145) were diagnosed with depression, 46.6% consumed alcohol in the last 30 days, while 15.2% (n=93) smoked cigarettes within the last 30 days. U.S military veterans status (OR=1.40, 95% CI, 1.12, 1.74) along with low income (OR=2.21, 95% CI, 1.91, 2.55) and female gender (OR=2.07, 95% CI, 1.78, 2.41) was significantly associated with depression. U.S military veteran status was not associated with alcohol use or smoking.
Conclusion: The results implicate that the veterans in Tennessee are on higher risks of depression and alcohol consumption than non-veterans. Findings highlight the need of ongoing treatment and social support for the veterans population in Tennessee. Additional research is needed to understand the type of treatment and social support for this population.
Keywords: Coronary Heart Disease, Mental Health Disorders, Health disparities in Tennessee
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-2202 |
| Date | 25 April 2023 |
| Creators | Karki, Arpana, Ahuja, Manik, Dr., Brannock, Mary K, Mitchell,, Devonte M |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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