Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Is a Risk Factor for Multiple Addictions in Police Officers Hospitalized for Alcohol.

Paul Brunault (1) , Kevin Lebigre , Fatima Idbrik , Damien Mauge , Philippe Adam , Hussein El Ayoubi , Coraline Hingray , Servane Barrault (1) , Marie Grall-Bronnec (2) , Nicolas Ballon , Wissam El-Hage

1 QualiPsy - Qualité de vie et Santé psychologique [Tours]
2 SPHERE - MethodS in Patients-centered outcomes and HEalth ResEarch

BACKGROUND: In police officers, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD), but we lack data on the association between PTSD and other substance-related and addictive disorders. OBJECTIVES: We assessed whether PTSD could be a risk factor for different substance-related and addictive disorders in police officers, including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and gambling. METHOD: This cross-sectional study included all police officers admitted consecutively for alcohol to an inpatient ward dedicated to police officers (Le Courbat rehabilitation center, France; n= 133). Each patient completed self-administered questionnaires that assessed lifetime exposure to potentially traumatic events (Life Event Checklist for DSM-5), PTSD severity and diagnosis (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5), AUD severity (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test [AUDIT]), tobacco dependence (Fagerstrom test for Nicotine Dependence), cannabis dependence (Cannabis Abuse Screening test), and gambling disorder (Canadian Problem Gambling Index). RESULTS: Mean AUDIT score was 23.7 +/- 8.0; 66.2% had an AUDIT score >/=20. Our sample comprised a high prevalence for PTSD (38.3%) and for substance-related and addictive disorders: tobacco dependence (68.4%), cannabis dependence (3.8%), and pathological gambling (3%). Patients with PTSD experienced higher lifetime exposure to traumatic experiences: physical assault, severe human suffering, sudden accidental death of another person, and other types of stressful events/experiences. In multiple linear regressions adjusted for age, sex, and marital status, PTSD was a significant predictor of the severity of AUD and tobacco use disorder, but not of the severity of cannabis use disorder nor gambling disorder. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD is common in police officers hospitalized for alcohol and associated with a higher severity of some addictive disorders (alcohol/tobacco). PTSD and its comorbid addictive disorders should be systematically screened and treated in this population.

Mots clés: Addictive; Alcoholism/*diagnosis/epidemiology/rehabilitation; Behavior; Addictive/*psychology; Canada/epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Male; Marijuana Abuse/diagnosis/epidemiology; Middle Aged; Police/psychology/*statistics & numerical data; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Prevalence; Rehabilitation center; Risk Factors; Stress Disorders; Post-Traumatic/*diagnosis/epidemiology; Substance-related and addictive disorders; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tobacco use disorder; Tobacco Use Disorder/*diagnosis/epidemiology

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Paul Brunault, Kevin Lebigre, Fatima Idbrik, Damien Mauge, Philippe Adam, et al.. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Is a Risk Factor for Multiple Addictions in Police Officers Hospitalized for Alcohol.. European addiction research, 2019, 25 (4), pp.198-206. ⟨10.1159/000499936⟩. ⟨hal-03158773⟩