Association of Cardiovascular Disease and Military Veteran Status With Impairments in Physical and Psychological Functioning: Retrospective Cross-Sectional Analysis of US National Survey Data

Introduction: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) provides multidisciplinary team-based care with peer-to-peer support for diabetes and obesity, but not for most heart diseases. Objective: To inform disease-care models, assess physical and psychological functioning in veterans with, or at high risk of, heart disease. Methods: Retrospective, cross-sectional cohort analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2015-2019, based on standard measures of functioning: self-rated health, serious psychological distress, and high-risk substance use. Cohorts were veterans with respondent-reported heart disease, or at high risk of cardiovascular disease based on age/comorbidity combinations (HD/risk); nonveterans with HD/risk; and veterans without HD/risk. Ordinal logistic regression models adjusted for demographics, social determinants of health, and chronic conditions. A priori alpha was set to 0.01 because of large sample size (N = 28,314). Results: Among those with HD/risk, veterans (n = 3,483) and nonveterans (n = 16,438) had similar physical impairments, but distress trended higher among veterans (adjusted odds ratio = 1.36, 99% confidence interval [CI] = 0.99-1.86). Among those with comorbid HD/risk and behavioral health problems, regression-adjusted treatment rates were similar for veterans and nonveterans with psychological symptoms (55.9% vs. 55.2%, respectively, P = 0.531) or high-risk substance use (18.7% vs. 19.4%, P = .547); veterans were more likely to receive outpatient mental health treatment (36.1% [CI = 34.4%-37.8%] vs. 28.9% [CI = 28.2%-29.6%]). Conclusion: An upward trend in distress among veterans compared with nonveterans with HD/risk was not explained by differences in behavioral health treatment utilization. Further research should test multidisciplinary team-based care for veterans with HD/risk, similar to that used for other chronic diseases.