Table 1 –
Characteristics of women Veterans by endorsement of using alcohol to aid sleep and bivariate differences between women who used and did not use alcohol to aid sleep in the past month.
| Full Sample (N=1533) | Use of Alcohol to Aid Sleep | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YES (N=219) | NO (N=1,314) | ||||||
| Survey items | N | % | N | % | N | % | p-valuec |
| Age (years) | <.001 | ||||||
| 18–34 | 241 | 15.7 | 43 | 19.6 | 198 | 15.1 | |
| 35–44 | 244 | 15.9 | 49 | 22.4 | 195 | 14.8 | |
| 45–54 | 409 | 26.7 | 71 | 32.4 | 338 | 25.7 | |
| 55–64 | 404 | 26.4 | 48 | 21.9 | 356 | 27.1 | |
| 65 or older | 235 | 15.3 | 8 | 3.7 | 227 | 17.3 | |
| African-American/Blacka | 402 | 26.2 | 74 | 33.8 | 328 | 25.0 | .008 |
| Hispanic/Latinaa | 95 | 6.2 | 13 | 5.9 | 82 | 6.2 | 1.0 |
| White/Caucasiana | 1,005 | 65.6 | 128 | 58.5 | 877 | 66.7 | 0.021 |
| Other race/ethnicitya,b | 114 | 7.44 | 19 | 8.7 | 95 | 7.2 | 0.450 |
| No information on race/ethnicity | 20 | 1.3 | 2 | 0.9 | 18 | 1.4 | 0.581 |
| Employed for wages | 625 | 40.8 | 108 | 49.5 | 517 | 39.7 | .007 |
| ISI score (M ± SD) | 12.8±7.1 | 15.5±5.9 | 12.3±7.2 | <.001 | |||
| Clinical Insomnia (ISI score >=15) | 642 | 41.9 | 120 | 54.8 | 522 | 39.8 | <.001 |
| Positive PC-PTSD | 485 | 31.9 | 115 | 53.0 | 370 | 28.5 | <.001 |
| Days of use in the past week | <.001 | ||||||
| 0 days | 1027 | 67.6 | 23 | 10.5 | 1004 | 77.2 | |
| 1 day | 170 | 11.1 | 35 | 15.5 | 138 | 10.6 | |
| 2 days | 121 | 8.0 | 39 | 17.8 | 82 | 6.3 | |
| 3 days | 71 | 4.7 | 39 | 17.8 | 32 | 2.5 | |
| 4 days | 35 | 2.3 | 17 | 7.8 | 18 | 1.4 | |
| 5 days | 32 | 2.2 | 18 | 8.2 | 14 | 1.1 | |
| 6 days | 12 | 0.8 | 8 | 3.7 | 4 | 0.3 | |
| 7 days (daily drinking) | 50 | 3.4 | 41 | 18.7 | 9 | 0.7 | |
| Past-month use of any sleep medication (Rx or OTC) | 777 | 50.1 | 141 | 64.4 | 636 | 48.4 | <.001 |
| Past-month Rx sleep medication use | 584 | 38.1 | 110 | 50.2 | 474 | 36.1 | <.001 |
| Past-month OTC sleep medication use | 360 | 23.5 | 67 | 30.6 | 293 | 22.3 | .007 |
ISI = Insomnia Severity Index; Med = medication; OTC = Over the counter; Rx = Prescription; PC-PTSD = Primary Care-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder screen. P-values were derived from chi-square and analyses of covariance, where appropriate
Respondents were instructed to select all racial/ethnic groups that applied. Results presented are from each group compared to all others (e.g., those who identified as African-American/Black compared to those who did not identify as African-American/Black).
Includes Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Asian, and American Indian/Alaska Native, and Other.
p-value for bivariate differences between women who did (N=219) and did not (N=1,314) use alcohol to aid sleep.