Research

Mixed

Veterans with comorbid mental health disorders, particularly PTSD, exhibit significantly higher prevalence and secular increases in sleep disorders (specifically sleep apnea and insomnia) compared to those without such comorbidities.

If you are a veteran with PTSD or other mental health conditions, be aware that your risk for sleep disorders like apnea and insomnia is significantly higher. The study shows a six-fold increase in these diagnoses over a decade, with PTSD patients having the highest rates. It is crucial to integrate sleep management into your overall healthcare plan, as untreated sleep disorders can worsen mental health and increase risks for cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Posttraumatic stress disorder, which tripled over the same time period, was associated with the highest prevalence of sleep disorders (16%) among the comorbid conditions evaluated.
Melannie Alexander et al. · SLEEP · 2016

Why this rating

Large-scale cross-sectional study (n > 9.7 million) with robust data linkage, though causality is limited by the observational design.

Source

The National Veteran Sleep Disorder Study: Descriptive Epidemiology and Secular Trends, 2000–2010

Melannie Alexander et al. · SLEEP · 2016

DOI 10.5665/sleep.5972

cross_sectional · n=9786778Cited 184×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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