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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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3
MAJOR COHORT STUDIES

This chapter provides an overview of the major cohort studies of Gulf War veterans, and describes in detail the populations studied, the methods used to select those populations, and the approaches used to identify the health status of the veterans—including questionnaires, examinations, and laboratory tests. The findings from the studies described in this chapter are reviewed and evaluated in Chapter 4.

The major cohort studies are important for understanding the health of Gulf War veterans. Some of these cohorts were brought together in the first few years after the Gulf War; others were assembled more recently. The largest studies of Gulf War veterans have been conducted in countries that were members of the Gulf War coalition, including the United States, the United Kingdom (UK), Denmark, and Australia. Most of the studies compare sizable groups of deployed veterans with groups of nondeployed veterans or with veterans who were deployed to locations other than the Persian Gulf (for example, Bosnia or Germany).

Most major cohorts, once established, led to numerous studies that examined more detailed questions about Gulf War veterans’ health; the committee refers to those studies as derivatives. A derivative study is included and summarized under the original cohort from which the study population was drawn. This organization helped the committee identify populations that have been studied and understand which studies were independent of one another; establishing which studies rely on the same population sample is important because it helped the committee avoid double counting when weighing the evidence.

GENERAL LIMITATIONS OF GULF WAR COHORT STUDIES AND DERIVATIVE STUDIES

The cohort studies of Gulf War veterans and their derivative studies have contributed greatly to our understanding of veterans’ health, but they are beset by limitations that are commonly encountered in epidemiologic studies (see Chapter 2), including lack of representativeness, selection bias, lack of control for potential confounding factors, self-reports of exposures, lack of a diagnosis by a health professional for some health effects, and outcome misclassification.

The foremost limitation is lack of representativeness, which limits one’s ability to generalize results to the entire population of interest; for example, about half the cohorts focus on groups of veterans that are selected for study according to where they served in the military, that is, a military-unit-based study. Military-unit studies are not representative of all Gulf War

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

veterans with respect to their duties and location during deployment, their military status during the war (active duty, reserves, or National Guard), their military status after the war (active duty, reserves, or discharged), their branch of service (Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines), or ease of ascertainment (IOM, 1999). The most representative studies are population-based: the cohorts are selected on the basis of where their members reside. In population-based studies of Gulf War veterans, the cohort might be the entire deployed population, as in studies of Canadian and Australian veterans, or a random selection from the population of interest, as in several studies of US and UK veterans. The committee, in evaluating major cohort studies, gave greater weight to Gulf War studies that were population based.

A study’s representativeness, even if it is population based, can be compromised by low participation rates. Low participation rates can introduce selection bias, such as when Gulf War veterans who are symptomatic choose to participate more frequently than those who are not symptomatic. Nondeployed veterans, who might be healthier, may be less inclined to participate. In some studies, researchers not only try to assess the potential for selection bias by comparing participants with nonparticipants from both deployed and nondeployed populations, but also implement strategies to reduce the impact of selection bias, such as by oversampling nondeployed populations as in the study by Eisen and colleagues (2005).

Selection bias might also occur through the so-called healthy warrior effect. That form of bias has the potential to occur in most of the major cohorts that compare deployed veterans with nondeployed personnel. The healthy warrior effect is a form of selection bias insofar as chronically ill or less fit members of the armed forces might be less likely to have been deployed than more fit members. Some of the best studies attempt to measure the potential for selection bias and adjust for it in the analysis.

Many cohort studies rely on self-reports of symptoms and medical conditions. This may introduce reporting bias, which occurs when the study population (in this case the deployed veterans) over- or underreports symptoms or medical conditions relative to a comparison group (in this case the nondeployed veterans). This over- or underreporting may be related to beliefs about the effect of deployment on health, especially among deployed veterans who, if they are experiencing health problems, may have already formed an opinion on the cause of their malady. Comparison groups, in contrast, may have little reason to conjecture possible links between past exposures and any current health conditions they may be experiencing. In most cases, reporting bias leads to an overestimation of the prevalence of symptoms or diagnoses in the deployed population.

Self-reports of symptoms or medical conditions might sometimes introduce another type of bias known as outcome misclassification, in which there are errors in how symptoms or medical conditions are classified into outcomes and analyzed. One Gulf War study sought to document outcome misclassification by comparing veterans’ symptom reporting on questionnaires with clinical examination about 3 months later (McCauley et al., 1999a). The study found that the extent of misclassification depended on the type of symptom being reported; agreement between questionnaire and clinical examination ranged from 4% to 79%. The overall problem led the investigators to caution that questionnaire data, in the absence of clinical evaluation or adjustment, might lead to outcome misclassification (McCauley et al., 1999b). Another study also found poor reliability and validity of self-reported medical diagnoses when compared with medical records (Gray et al., 1999). In contrast, a study by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (Kang et al., 2000), which verified a random subset of self-reported conditions (n = 4200) against medical records, found a strong correlation between the two (above

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

93%). Those data, however, were available only for the 45.2% who signed consent forms that allowed researchers to verify records.

The concerns relating to symptom self-reporting are best addressed through medical evaluations in which the veterans’ reports of symptoms can be further explored with a health professional. This was done by VA researchers (for example, Eisen et al., 2005) and by several other investigators with the resources to conduct medical evaluations (for example, Sim et al., 2003). The committee acknowledges that many medical conditions, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia, are diagnosed solely on the basis of symptom reports, but where possible these symptoms should be evaluated by a medical professional.

Another limitation of most major cohort studies is self-reporting of exposures, often years after the exposure had occurred. Self-reporting of exposures, as with self-reporting of symptoms, introduces the possibility of recall bias, the tendency for participants who are symptomatic to overestimate (or underestimate) their exposures compared with those who are not symptomatic. Indeed, a major study from the United Kingdom found that Gulf War veterans with more symptoms were likely to report more exposures than those not deployed to the gulf (Unwin et al., 1999). Exposures often cannot be validated by objective means, may have occurred years earlier, and might have been perceived rather than actual (Fricker et al., 2000). For example, the high sensitivity of chemical-warfare monitors used in the Persian Gulf War to warn of impending attacks led to many false alarms, which might have been perceived by veterans as actual exposures. Enhanced recordkeeping and monitoring of environmental exposures during and after the Gulf War would have averted this exposure reporting problem. Indeed, many expert panels have recommended improved recordkeeping and environmental monitoring in future deployments (for example, IOM, 1999; NRC, 2000a,b,c).

Other limitations of the body of evidence are that studies might be too narrow in their assessment of health status, the measurement instruments might have been too insensitive to detect health problems that affect deployed veterans, and the period of investigation has been too brief to detect health outcomes that have a long latency or require many years to progress to the point where disability, hospitalization, or death occurs. Virtually all US studies are cross-sectional, and this limits the opportunity to learn about symptom duration and chronicity, latency of onset (especially for health conditions with a long latency, such as cancer), and prognosis.

ORGANIZATION OF THIS CHAPTER

This chapter describes the major cohort studies and their derivative studies used by the Update committee to provide the evidence for the conclusions presented in Chapter 4. For each separately assembled cohort, the reference study is described first, followed by a summary of any derivative studies cited in Chapter 4 or Appendix A. The majority of the cohort studies are population-based, although some military-unit-based studies are described later in the chapter. Table 3-1 lists the reference and derivative studies of each cohort cited in this chapter and Chapter 4.

The committee did not identify any new major cohort studies for this report. Furthermore, not all derivative studies for a particular cohort study are included in this chapter or in Chapter 4. In many cases, the derivative studies identified by the committee from the literature searches were highly specialized; for example, they reported on family issues, pathologic changes in a subgroup of veterans, or treatment outcomes. Such studies are not included in this chapter or in Chapter 4.

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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TABLE 3-1 Reference and Derivative Studies for the Major Gulf War Cohorts

Cohort/Reference Study

Derivatives

Purpose/Outcome

VA National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families/Kang et al., 2000

Volume 4

Davis et al., 2004

Presence of distal symmetric polyneuropathy

 

Eisen et al., 2005

Numerous health outcomes and general health assessment

 

Kang et al., 2001

Self-reported birth defects

 

Kang et al., 2002

Association of symptom clusters with self-reported exposures

 

Kang et al., 2003

Prevalence of PTSD and chronic fatigue syndrome

 

Kang et al., 2005

Role of sexual assault and harassment on the risk of PTSD

 

Karlinsky et al., 2004

Pulmonary function and self-reported respiratory symptoms

New

Kang et al., 2009

Self-reported general health status

 

Page et al., 2005a,b

Possible exposure at Khamisiyah and self-reported morbidity

 

Blanchard et al., 2005

Prevalence of chronic multisymptom illness

 

Toomey et al., 2007

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders, symptom self-report, and quality of life status

 

Toomey et al., 2009

Neuropsychological functioning

Iowa Veterans/Iowa Persian Gulf Study Group, 1997

Volume 4

Barrett et al., 2002

Association between PTSD and self-reported physical health status

 

Black et al., 1999

Impact of multiple chemical sensitivity on quality of life and utilization of health services

 

Black et al., 2000

Risk factors and prevalence of multiple chemical sensitivity

 

Black et al., 2004a

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders

 

Black et al., 2004b

Prevalence and risk factors for anxiety disorders

 

Doebbling et al., 2000

Factor analysis of self-reported symptoms (Definition of Persian Gulf War Syndrome)

 

Lange et al., 2002

Exposure to Kuwait oil fires and risk of asthma and bronchitis

New

Ang et al., 2006

Identification of predictors of chronic widespread pain

 

Black et al., 2006

Prevalence of borderline personality disorder

 

Forman-Hoffman et al., 2007

Prevalence of self-reports of symptoms of chronic widespread pain

UK Veterans: University of London/Unwin et al., 1999

Volume 4

Hotopf et al., 2003a,b

Neurologic assessments

 

Macfarlane et al., 2000

Self-reported exposure and mortality

 

Macfarlane et al., 2003

Incidence of cancer

 

Reid et al., 2001

Self-reported exposure and multiple chemical sensitivity and chronic fatigue syndrome

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

Cohort/Reference Study

Derivatives

Purpose/Outcome

 

Rose et al., 2004

Neuromuscular symptoms evaluated through objective tests

 

Sharief et al., 2002

Neuromuscular symptoms evaluated by objective tests

 

Nisenbaum et al., 2004

Factor analysis of self-reported symptoms

 

Macfarlane et al., 2005

Self-reported exposure and mortality

New 

Stimpson et al., 2006

Self-report of chronic widespread pain

 

Ismail et al., 2008

Prevalence of chronic fatigue and related disorders through assessment

UK Veterans: University of Manchester/Cherry et al., 2001a,b

Volume 4

None

 

New

None

 

UK Veterans: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/Maconochie et al., 2003

Volume 4

Doyle et al., 2004

Prevalence of miscarriage, stillbirth, and congenital malformations

 

Maconochie et al., 2004

Self-report of fertility problems

 

Simmons et al., 2004

Self-report of medical symptoms or disease

New

None

 

Danish Peacekeepers/Ishoy et al., 1999b

Volume 4

Proctor et al., 2003

Prevalence of neuropsychologic symptoms and neurobehavioral performance

 

Ishoy et al., 1999a

Prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms and diseases, skin disease, and respiratory symptoms and function

 

Ishoy et al., 2001a,b

Self-report of sexual dysfunction and birth defects

New

None

 

Australian Veterans/Sim et al., 2003

Volume 4

Kelsall et al., 2004a

Association between self-reported exposures with numerous symptoms and medical conditions

 

Ikin et al., 2004

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders

 

McKenzie et al., 2004

Psychological health and functioning

 

Kelsall et al., 2004b

Self-reported exposure and respiratory health status

 

Kelsall et al., 2005

Self-report of exposures and neurological symptoms

 

Forbes et al., 2004

Factor analysis of self-reported symptoms

New

Kelsall et al., 2006

Self-reported exposure and prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome

 

Kelsall et al., 2007

Self-reported birth defects and other pregnancy outcomes

Oregon and Washington Veterans/McCauley et al., 1999a

Volume 4

Bourdette et al., 2001

Prevalence of unexplained illness

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

Cohort/Reference Study

Derivatives

Purpose/Outcome

 

Spencer et al., 2001

Self-reported exposure and unexplained illness

New

None

 

Canadian Veterans/Goss Gilroy, 1998

Volume 4

Statistics Canada, 2005

Mortality rate and cancer incidence

New

None

 

Kansas Veterans Study/Steele et al., 2000

Volume 4

None

 

New

None

 

Fort Devens and New Orleans Cohorts/Proctor et al., 1998

Volume 4

White et al., 2001

Self-reported exposure and neuropsychological functioning

 

Proctor et al., 2001a

Assessment of health-related quality of life

 

Proctor et al., 2001b

Overlap between symptoms of chronic fatigue and chemical sensitivity, and the case definition for chronic multisymptom illness

New

Proctor et al., 2006

Possible exposure at Khamisiyah and neuropsychological functioning

Seabee Veterans/Haley et al., 1997b

Volume 4

Haley and Kurt, 1997; Haley et al., 1997a

Self-reported exposure to neurotoxicants and nervous system-based syndromes

 

Haley et al., 1999

Genetic susceptibility and risk of neurologic damage

New

Haley et al., 2009

 

Gray et al., 1999

Volume 4

Gray et al., 2002

Self-report of symptoms and general health status

 

Knoke et al., 2000

Self-report of symptoms

New

Phillips et al., 2009

Exposure to vaccines and chronic multisymptom illness

Pennsylvania Air National Guard Veterans/Fukuda et al., 1998

Volume 4

Nisenbaum et al., 2000

Self-reported exposures and chronic multisymptom illness

 

Nisenbaum et al., 2004

Factor analysis of self-reported symptoms

New

None

 

Hawaii and Pennsylvania Active-Duty and Reserve/Stretch et al., 1995

Volume 4

Stretch et al., 1996a

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders

 

Stretch et al., 1996b

Prevalence of PTSD

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

Cohort/Reference Study

Derivatives

Purpose/Outcome

New

None

 

New Orleans Reservists/Sutker et al., 1995

Volume 4

Brailey et al., 1998

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders

 

Sutker et al., 1995

Prevalence of psychologic disorders

New

None

 

Department of Veterans Affairs Study

Volume 4 described seven derivative studies of the National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families, conducted by the VA (Kang et al., 2000). The Update committee identified six additional derivative studies of this cohort that examine specific health outcomes or conducted a follow-up survey and analysis.

Reference Study

A major population-based study of US veterans was mandated by PL 103-446, with the purpose of estimating the prevalence of symptoms and other health outcomes (including reproductive outcomes in spouses and birth defects in children) in Gulf War deployed versus nondeployed veterans. This three-phase retrospective study, the National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families, was designed to be representative of the nearly 700,000 US veterans sent to the Persian Gulf and 800,680 veterans who were not deployed but who were in the military between September 1990 and May 1991.

In the first phase, begun in 1995, the VA mailed questionnaires to a stratified random sample of 15,000 Gulf War and 15,000 veterans not deployed to the Gulf War identified by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) (Kang et al., 2000). Women and those serving in the National Guard and reserves were oversampled, resulting in a study population that was approximately 20% women, 25% National Guard, and 33% reservists. The controls were stratified by gender, unit, and branch of service to mirror the population of deployed veterans. The self-administered structured health questionnaire contained a 48-symptom inventory (somatic and psychological symptoms) and questions about chronic medical conditions, functional limitations, use of medical services, and environmental exposures (for example, immunizations, use of the prophylactic antinerve agent pyridostigmine bromide [PB], smoke from oil-well fires, pesticides, and insecticides).

Phase II used telephone interview software in an attempt to capture those who did not respond to the mailed questionnaire. In addition, medical records were obtained for a random sample of 4200 respondents (either phase I or II) to validate self-reports of clinic visits or hospitalizations within the last year. Of the 2233 veterans with at least one clinic visit, 43.2% provided medical record release consent; of the 310 with at least one hospitalization, 45.2% provided medical record release consent. A total of 11,441 (75%) deployed and 9476 (64%) nondeployed veterans participated in the study; 15,817 veterans responded to phase I, and 5100 responded to the telephone portion of phase II (Kang and Bullman, 2001; Kang et al., 2000). Gulf War veterans reported significantly higher rates of functional impairment (27.8% vs 14.2%), limitations of employment (17.2% vs 11.6%), and health-care use as assessed by clinic visits (50.8% vs 40.5%) or hospitalizations (7.8% vs 6.4%) compared with nondeployed

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

veterans. In a randomly selected subset of veterans, medical record reviews verified more than 90% of self-reported reasons for clinic visits or hospitalizations (Kang et al., 2000).

Kang et al. (2000) did not assess exposure–symptom relationships but rather noted the percentage of veterans who reported each of 23 environmental exposures and nine vaccine or prophylactic exposures (such as to PB). The five most common environmental exposures reported by more than 60% of survey participants were to the following: diesel, kerosene, or other petrochemical fumes; local food other than that provided by the armed forces; chemical protective gear; smoke from oil-well fires; and burning trash or feces.

Derivative Studies

In Volume 4, seven derivative studies were identified: Davis et al. (2004), Eisen et al. (2005), Kang et al. (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005), and Karlinsky et al. (2004).

Davis et al. (2004) studied the presence of distal symmetric polyneuropathy (DSP) determined by medical history, physical examination by a neurologist, blood tests, and standardized electrophysiologic assessment of motor and sensory nerves in the cohort of 1061 deployed veterans and 1128 nondeployed veterans from the National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families. Spouses of deployed (n = 484) and nondeployed (n = 533) veterans were studied to evaluate whether an infectious agent or environmental contaminant brought back from the gulf could be responsible for any adverse health outcomes. Evaluations of 244 Khamisiyah-exposed (data provided by the DoD) versus 817 nonexposed deployed veterans for the presence of DSP were conducted. See Chapter 4 for more details.

In the third phase of the National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families, conducted 10 years after the Gulf War, Eisen and colleagues (2005) performed a cross-sectional study on numerous health outcomes of veterans 10 years after the Gulf War. The study population consisted of a stratified random sample of the 11,441 deployed and 9476 nondeployed veterans who participated in the above described phase I or II. This phase included a comprehensive medical examination and laboratory testing. Of the 1996 eligible deployed veterans, 1061 (53.1%) were examined; 680 (34.1%) declined and 255 (12.8%) were not located. Of the 2883 eligible nondeployed veterans, 1128 (39.1%) were examined; 1316 (45.7%) declined and 439 (15.2%) were not located. Despite three waves of recruitment into the study, the participation rate was low—60.9% of Gulf War deployed veterans and 46.2% of the nondeployed.

Study participants were assigned a medical center closest to their residence where physicians and nurses performed medical, neurologic, psychiatric, and gynecologic histories and examinations; laboratory, nerve conduction, pulmonary function, and neuropsychological tests were also performed. Twelve primary health outcome measures and physical functioning on SF-36 were examined.1 Outcome measures were chosen by the authors to cover the most common symptoms reported by veterans, such as musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, rashes, and neuropathy (Kang et al., 2000). Gulf War veterans reported worse physical health on the SF-36 (49.3 vs 50.8) but the magnitude of the difference, although statistically significant, was not clinically meaningful. Four of 12 conditions were more prevalent among Gulf War veterans: fibromyalgia (2.0% vs 1.2%), CFS (1.6% vs 0.1%), dermatologic conditions (34.6% vs 26.8 %), and dyspepsia (9.1% vs 6.0%). Further details are discussed in Chapter 4.

1

The SF-36 is a standardized instrument instrument to measure physical and mental health, physical and social functioning, and general well-being. It is the Medical Outcome Study’s 36-item questionnaire known as the Short Form-36, or SF-36.

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

Kang and colleagues (2001) assessed the association between self-reported adverse pregnancy outcomes and deployment to the gulf using data from the phase I questionnaire. Results are based on the 3397 (2761 males, 636 females) deployed and 2645 (1951 males, 695 females) nondeployed veterans who reported their or their partner’s first pregnancy ending after June 30, 1991. See Chapter 4 for discussion of reproductive outcomes.

A nested case-control analysis was performed on the 277 (2.4%) deployed veterans from Phases 1 and 2 who met the case definition for a possible neurological cluster of symptoms including blurred vision, loss of balance or dizziness, tremors or shaking, speech difficulty, concentration or memory problems, and irregular heartbeat, to determine which of 23 self-reported exposures were more common among cases than among the controls (6730 Gulf War veteran respondents who lacked symptoms) (Kang et al., 2002). Exposure to a variety of chemical agents were reported to be higher among cases than controls, specifically to chemical-agent-resistant compound paint, depleted uranium, nerve gas, food contaminated with oil or smoke, and bathing in or drinking water contaminated with oil or smoke. Further details on results from this study are found in Chapter 4 in the section on Multisymptom Illness.

Kang et al. (2003) used the Kang et al. (2000) cohorts to assess the prevalence of PTSD and CFS in Gulf War veterans. The questionnaire administered to the veterans in Phases 1 and 2 described above included eight symptoms to be used to diagnose CFS, the PTSD Checklist was used to identify symptoms of PTSD. Assessment of CFS was based on the CDC case definition after exclusion of alternate medical causes of the symptoms. Further details on results from this study are found in Chapter 4 in the section on Mental and Behavioral Disorders.

Kang and colleagues (2005) conducted a nested case-control study evaluating the role of sexual assault on the risk of PTSD from the 11,441 Gulf War veteran respondents of the 1995 questionnaire described above. A score of 50 or higher on the PTSD checklist (PCL) was necessary to have met the criteria for PTSD; 1381 (12.1%) Gulf War veterans (336 females and 1045 males) screened positive for PTSD, while 10,060 (1795 females and 8265 males) screened negative and were used as a comparison group. Adjustments for age, race, branch, combat, rank, and unit type, and self-report of sexual harassment and assault were made. Further details on results described above are found in Chapter 4 in the section on Female Veterans’ Health.

Karlinsky and colleagues (2004) examined pulmonary function and self-reported respiratory symptoms in the deployed (n = 1036) versus nondeployed (n = 1103) veterans drawn from the National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families. Results of pulmonary function tests were classified into five categories: normal pulmonary function, nonreversible airway obstruction, reversible airway obstruction, restrictive lung physiology, and small-airway obstruction. The authors also reported on the pattern of pulmonary function test results in those exposed (n = 159) and those not exposed (n = 877) (according to DoD exposure estimates developed in 2002) to nerve agents from destruction of munitions at the storage site at Khamisiyah in 1991. See Chapter 4 for more details.

The Update committee identified six studies (Blanchard et al., 2005; Kang et al., 2009; Page et al., 2005a,b; Toomey et al., 2007, 2009) published after Volume 4 that used data from the VA National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families. Findings from those studies are described in Chapter 4.

Page and colleagues (2005a) assessed the possible health effects of Khamisiyah exposure (determined from models developed by the Department of Defense [DoD] and Central Intelligence Agency) in 5555 deployed army veterans drawn from the 11,441 deployed cohort who responded to either phase I or II (postal or telephone questionnaire). When the survey was

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

completed in 1995, veterans were not yet notified of possible chemical agent exposure in Khamisiyah. No difference in self-perception of health status was found between the exposed (n = 1898) and unexposed (n = 3336) groups.

Page and colleagues (2005b) also examined the association between notification of possible exposure at Khamisiyah and self-reported morbidity. In 2000, a subsample of 1056 deployed army veterans was surveyed; of the 600 notified subjects, 438 (73%) responded, and of the 456 nonnotified subjects, 318 (70%) responded. Results indicate no significant difference in activity limitations, bed days, or number of clinic or hospital visits among the groups.

Blanchard and colleagues (2005) assessed the prevalence and severity of chronic multisymptom illness (CMI) in the same cohort of deployed (n = 1061) and nondeployed (1128) veterans as described by Eisen and colleagues (2005). Combat exposure was significantly associated with CMI. The prevalence of CMI in the nondeployed population has remained relatively constant at 4, 7, and 10 years postwar. Among the deployed veterans, CMI prevalence has decreased from 44.7% at 4 years to 28.9% after 10 years (Fukuda et al., 1998; Steele, 2000). Blanchard et al. (2005) also assessed for the presence of CMI based on the possible exposure of deployed veterans to nerve agents as a result of the Khamisiyah demolition. Based on DoD modeling, 236 (22.2%) of the deployed veterans were exposed; 92 (39.0%) had CMI, and 144 (61.0%) did not. See Chapter 4 for more details.

Toomey and colleagues (2007) examined the prevalence of mental health disorders, self-report of symptoms, and quality of life in the same cohort of 1061 Gulf War deployed versus 1128 nondeployed veterans 10 years postconflict as that of Eisen et al. (2005). Deployed veterans self-reported lower levels of life satisfaction and their SF-36 scores were significantly lower than the nondeployed veterans. See Chapter 4 for more details.

Toomey and colleagues (2009) also evaluated neuropsychologic functioning 10 years postconflict in the same population as the study described above (Toomey et al., 2007). The measures assessed were based on those previously found to be different between the deployed and nondeployed groups in earlier studies of the same cohort; examples include measures of general intelligence, attention or executive functioning, motor ability, visuospatial processing, and verbal and visual memory. Further details can be found in Chapter 4.

Kang and colleagues (2009) conducted a 10-year follow-up general health assessment using the population of the National Health Survey of Gulf War Veterans and Their Families (15,000 Gulf War deployed and 15,000 nondeployed). In phase I of the follow-up, VA and Social Security records through December 2002 were used to identify and mail health questionnaires to the 29,607 living participants. Phase II consisted of telephone interviews with 2000 nonresponsive participants and a sample of 1000 participants who had indicated a clinic visit or hospitalization within the previous 12 months in order to obtain permission for medical record retrieval. After phases I and II, 6111 (40%) deployed and 3859 (27%) nondeployed participants responded to the survey; overall response rate was low, only 34%. The administered questionnaire was a modified version of that used in the 1995 survey and included the Psychopathy Check List (PCL), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), and the SF-122 in addition to other items used to assess general health status. See Chapter 4 for more details.

2

“The 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) was developed for the Medical Outcomes Study, a multiyear study of patients with chronic conditions. The instrument was designed to reduce respondent burden while achieving minimum standards of precision for purposes of group comparisons involving multiple health dimensions” (RAND Corporation, 2010).

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

The Iowa Persian Gulf Study

In Volume 4, the Iowa Persian Gulf Study was presented as the reference study with eight derivative studies. The Update committee identified three new studies derived from the original Iowa cohort.

Reference Study

The Iowa study was a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of 4886 military personnel who listed Iowa as their home of record at the time of enlistment and served between August 2, 1990, and July 31, 1991 (Iowa Persian Gulf Study Group, 1997). The DMDC identified 29,010 potentially eligible military personnel; 42 records were not included for a variety of reasons including incomplete data or duplicate records, leaving a representative sample of 28,968.

Study subjects were divided into four groups: Gulf War-deployed active duty, Gulf War-deployed National Guard or reserve, Gulf War nondeployed active duty, and Gulf War nondeployed National Guard or reserve; samples were evenly selected from each of the four domains. A total of 4886 study subjects were randomly selected from the four groups; of the study subjects who were contacted, 3695 (76%) completed a telephone interview. Trained examiners used standardized questionnaires, instruments, and scales to collect information from the subjects. Sources of questions included the National Health Interview Survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, the National Medical Expenditures Survey, the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the CAGE questionnaire (for alcoholism),3 the PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) Checklist—Military, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Questionnaire, the Chalder Fatigue Scale, the American Thoracic Society questionnaire, and the Sickness Impact Profile. The conditions listed were not diagnosed, because no clinical examinations were performed. Rather, before conducting their telephone survey, researchers grouped sets of symptoms from their symptom checklists into a priori categories of diseases or disorders. After a veteran identified himself or herself as having the requisite set of symptoms, researchers analyzing responses considered the veteran as having symptoms “suggestive” of or consistent with a particular disorder but not as having a formal diagnosis of the disorder.

Gulf War veterans scored significantly lower on all eight subscales for physical and mental health on the SF-36. The subscales for bodily pain, general health, and vitality showed the greatest absolute differences between deployed and nondeployed veterans. The Iowa study assessed exposure–symptom relationships by asking veterans to report on their deployment exposures including to solvents or petrochemicals, smoke or combustion products, lead from fuels, pesticides, ionizing or nonionizing radiation, chemical warfare agents, PB use, infectious agents, and physical trauma. The authors concluded that no exposure to any single agent was related to the medical conditions found to be more prevalent in Gulf War veterans (Iowa Persian Gulf Study Group, 1997).

3

The CAGE is a four-item scale to assess cutting down (C), feeling annoyed by people criticizing your drinking (A), feeling guilty about drinking (G), and using alcohol as an eye-opener in the morning (E).

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Derivative Studies

Eight derivative studies of the Iowa cohort were described in Volume 4 (Barrett et al., 2002; Black et al., 1999, 2000, 2004a,b; Doebbling et al., 2000; Lange et al., 2002). The Update committee identified three new studies of this cohort.

Subsequent cross-sectional studies of the Iowa cohort examined the presence of possible multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) in these veterans, including the impact of MCS on quality of life and utilization of health services (Black et al., 1999) and the prevalence of and risk factors the development of MCS (Black et al., 2000).

Doebbling et al. (2000) used factor analysis to attempt to determine if the symptoms reported by Gulf War veterans after their deployment were different than those reported by nondeployed veterans and if the symptoms seen in the deployed veterans could possibly constitute a unique Gulf War syndrome.

Three studies assess the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Gulf War deployed and nondeployed veterans. Barrett et al. (2002) examined the association between PTSD and self-reported physical health status. The prevalence of and risk factors for current anxiety disorder was studied by Black et al. (2004b) who used the PRIME-MD in a structured telephone interview to identify symptoms of anxiety. In a case-control study, however, Black et al. (2004a) used the SCID-IV to diagnose current or lifetime depression in 608 of the Iowa veterans, of whom 192 met the case definition for lifetime depressive disorder (132 deployed and 60 nondeployed). The prevalence of comorbid psychiatric diagnoses was determined. The findings of these studies are discussed in more detail in Chapter 4.

Lange et al. (2002) examined the impact of exposure of deployed Gulf War veterans to Kuwaiti oil-well fire and the prevalence of asthma and bronchitis 5 years after the war. Modeled exposures were developed using a geographic information system to integrate spatial and temporal records of smoke concentrations with troop movements ascertained from global positioning systems records. Results for modeled exposures were compared with self-reported exposures. More details are presented in Chapter 4.

The Update committee identified three new studies based on the Iowa cohort: Ang et al. (2006) and Forman-Hoffman et al. (2007) that both looked at the presence of chronic widespread pain in Iowa Gulf War veterans and Black et al. (2006) who assessed the prevalence of borderline personality disorder in the Iowa veterans.

Approximately 5 years after the initial survey described above, Ang and colleagues (2006) designed a follow-up evaluation to determine predictive factors for development of chronic widespread pain (CWP) in Gulf War veterans. A sample of 1040 veterans who previously met the criteria for cognitive dysfunction, CWP, and a control group was evaluated. Fifty-eight percent (n = 602) of the targeted population completed the assessment. Results indicated that deployment was not significantly associated with development of CWP; however, the association with combat exposure was significant. See Chapter 4 for more details.

Forman-Hoffman et al. (2007) also conducted a cross-sectional survey 5 years postconflict to determine the effect of deployment on the development of CWP in the Iowa cohort. The authors used the same 3695 participants as sampled in Black et al. (2006) below. Findings from this study are discussed further in Chapter 4.

Black and colleagues (2006) assessed the prevalence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) traits in a sample of the Iowa Persian Gulf War veterans using the Schedule for Adaptive and Nonadaptive Personality. The population was drawn from the initial 3695 surveyed individuals; a second assessment (in-person interviews and medical examinations) was

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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administered to 602 individuals who previously met the criteria for one or more of the following: depression, chronic widespread pain, and cognitive dysfunction. The overall response rate was 95.7% (n = 576). See Chapter 4 for further detail.

United Kingdom Veteran Studies

Three reference studies of UK Gulf War veterans were identified in Volume 4: Cherry et al. (2001a,b); Maconochie et al. (2003); and Unwin et al. (1999). Two teams of researchers in the UK studied separate, nonoverlapping, stratified random samples of the over 53,000 military personnel sent to the Gulf War. The first team was from the University of London (Guy’s, King’s, and St. Thomas Medical Schools); the second team was from the University of Manchester. In addition, a third team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine surveyed the entire cohort of 53,000 veterans examining birth defects and other reproductive outcomes. The Update committee identified only one new derivative study which was based on the University of London cohort study.

University of London Veteran Studies
Reference Study

At the University of London, Unwin and colleagues (1999) studied the health effects of deployment by randomly sampling the entire UK contingent deployed to the Gulf War (n = 53,462)4; the control groups consisted of those deployed to the conflict in Bosnia (n = 39,217) and servicemembers who were deployed in the same period to noncombat locations outside the United Kingdom (n = 250,000). The nondeployed control group was recruited from among the subset of nondeployed servicemembers who were fit for combat duty, thus avoiding selection bias related to the healthy warrior effect. Investigators distributed a mailed questionnaire that asked about symptoms (50 items), medical disorders (39 items), exposure history (29 items), functional capacity, and other topics. Potential confounding factors (including sociodemographic and lifestyle factors) were controlled for in multiple logistic regression analysis. Response rates were as follows: 70.4% Gulf War deployed; 61.9% Bosnia cohort; and 62.9% era cohort. The Gulf War deployed veterans reported a higher prevalence of symptoms and diminished functioning than did either comparison group.

The two UK Gulf War cohorts completed a second questionnaire with details of the dates they were deployed to each location and the exposures they had experienced. The questionnaire listed 14 exposures, such as combat exposure, number of inoculations, number of days handling pesticides, days exposed to smoke from oil fires, and duration of stay in the gulf. The main analysis involved a multiple regression of each of the seven factors identified through factor analysis on all exposures and other potential confounders. Many of the reported exposures correlated with one another. In the multivariate regression analysis, the number of days veterans handled pesticides was related to the overall severity score and to the peripheral and neurologic factors; the number of days they applied insecticide to their skin was related to severity and to the peripheral, respiratory, and appetite factors. The number of inoculations was associated with skin and musculoskeletal symptoms. Further results are discussed in detail in Chapter 4.

4

UK military personnel in the Gulf War were somewhat different from US personnel in demographics, combat experience, and exposures to particular agents (United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, 2000).

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Derivative Studies

Nine derivative studies of this cohort were described in Volume 4 (Hotopf et al., 2003a,b; Macfarlane et al., 2000, 2003, 2005; Nisenbaum et al., 2004; Reid et al., 2001; Rose et al., 2004; Sharief et al., 2002). The Update committee identified two new studies of this cohort (Stimpson et al., 2006; Ismail et al., 2008).

A follow-up study using a postal survey was sent 11 years after the war to a stratified random sample of 3305 participants (1472 Gulf War deployed, 909 Bosnian deployed, 924 era veterans) from the total who completed the first study described above. The response rates were as follows: 74.0% Gulf War deployed; 70.2% Bosnia deployed; 69.7% era veterans. To assess physical symptoms, respondents completed the SF-36. Receiving multiple vaccinations during deployment was weakly associated with five of the six health outcomes examined, including chronic multisymptom illness (as defined by the CDC) (Hotopf et al., 2003a). Hotopf et al. (2003b) studied a subset of these veterans assess PON1 activity and genotype for PON1–55 and PON1–192. Four groups were selected: deployed veterans who reported physical symptoms after the war (n = 115); healthy deployed veterans (n = 95); symptomatic Bosnia peacekeeping veterans (n = 52); and symptomatic nondeployed military controls (n = 85).

Macfarlane and colleagues (2000) assessed mortality among the entire UK cohort of deployed veterans (n = 53,462) compared with frequency matched controls; the follow-up period was from the end of the Gulf War (April 1, 1991) to March 31, 1999. Results from a 13-year follow-up (ending June 30, 2004) of the same cohort remained consistent (Macfarlane et al., 2005). See Chapter 4 for more details.

Incidence of cancer, as identified on the National Health Service register, was followed from the end of the Gulf War until July 31, 2002, in all deployed UK servicemembers compared with nondeployed matched controls (era veterans). Of the 51,721 Gulf War veterans, 270 were diagnosed with cancer; of the 50,755 era veterans, 269 were diagnosed (Macfarlane et al., 2003). Additional discussion of the findings is provided in Chapter 4.

Another separate analysis of a subgroup of veterans meeting case criteria for MCS symptoms found that they were significantly more likely to report several types of pesticide exposures. Veterans meeting case criteria for CFS were not more likely to report pesticide exposure; a strong association was found between CFS and reporting of combat-related injury in the deployed veterans (Reid et al., 2001).

Rose et al. (2004) and Sharief et al. (2002) conducted a case-control study examining neuromuscular symptoms in 49 Gulf War veterans with more than four neuromuscular symptoms and lower functioning according to the SF-36 compared with 26 healthy Gulf War-deployed veterans, 13 symptomatic Bosnian veterans, and 22 symptomatic nondeployed controls. Testing of peripheral nerves, skeletal muscles, or neuromuscular junctions found no statistically significant differences between deployed and nondeployed veterans who had symptoms of Gulf War illness. See Chapter 4 for further details.

Nisenbaum et al. (2004) used a factor analysis on symptom data from both the UK reference study and the Pennsylvania Air Force unit study (Fukuda et al., 1998; discussed later in this chapter) to look at the interrelationships between symptoms. Each sample was split in half to provide an exploratory and a confirmatory sample. Four correlated factors were identified in each of the samples: respiratory, mood-cognition, peripheral nervous, and gastrointestinal/urogenital. Further detail is discussed in Chapter 4.

Macfarlane et al. (2005) examined self-reported exposures and mortality in the population of Gulf War deployed described above. No difference in mortality was found between

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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those who reported exposure to antibiologic warfare prophylaxis, pesticide handling, smoke from oil-well fires, or Scud missiles, versus the self-reported unexposed. Results also indicate that those who handled pesticides and those exposed to depleted uranium were at higher risk of death due to external causes and death due to disease-related causes, respectively; however, neither of these was statistically significant. See Chapter 4 for additional detail.

The Update committee identified two new studies based on the University of London study. Stimpson and colleagues (2006) used the same population and methods described in Unwin et al. (1999) to specifically examine the prevalence of reported pain and its association with deployment status. Ismail and colleagues (2008) assessed the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome by implementing a two-phase study approach that was a continuum of the Unwin et al. (1999) (phase I) cohort above. Phase II consisted of a random sampling of the 244 veterans (Gulf War and Bosnia deployed, and era veterans) who screened positive for a physical disability (score less than or equal to 72.2 on the SF-36) in the Unwin study; 111 (45.5%) were Gulf War deployed and 133 (54.5%) were non-Gulf veterans (Bosnia: n = 54, era: n = 79). See Chapter 4 for more detail.

University of Manchester Veteran Study

Seven years after the Gulf War, the University of Manchester study surveyed a random sample of all UK veterans, distinct from that of Unwin et al. (1999), who deployed between September 1990 and June 1991, as indentified by the Ministry of Defense (Cherry et al., 2001a,b). Eligible deployed veterans (n = 9505) were divided into two groups—main cohort (n = 4755) and validation cohort (n = 4750) to permit replication of analysis and to assess consistency. The control population (n = 4749) was nondeployed veterans in good general health. Veterans were sent a questionnaire about the extent to which they were burdened, within the last month, by any of 95 symptoms. By asking them to mark their answers on a visual analogue scale, investigators sought to determine the degree of symptom severity. Investigators also sought to determine areas of peripheral neuropathy by asking veterans to shade body areas on two mannequins in which they were experiencing pain or numbness and tingling. Deployed veterans reported greater symptom severity on almost all symptoms. Findings from this reference study are discussed in Chapter 4.

No derivative studies were identified for this UK cohort in Volume 4 or by the Update committee.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Veteran Study
Reference Study

The third United Kingdom study was a very large mail survey that began in August 1998 (with reminders until 2001). It was conducted by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Maconochie et al., 2003). The study was designed to assess reproductive outcomes among Gulf War veterans and also contained open-ended questions regarding general health. The exposed cohort consisted of all UK Gulf War veterans, and the unexposed cohort consisted of a random sample of nondeployed UK military personnel from the same period. The number of surveys returned in the study was large (25,084 from Gulf War veterans and 19,003 from non-Gulf War veterans); however, the participation rates were low (47.3% and 37.5% of male and female Gulf War veterans, respectively, and 57.3% and 45.6% of male and female nondeployed veterans). The survey included items on reproductive and child health, exposure history, current health, and health of sexual partners; it was supplemented by

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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examination of medical records for pregnancies, live births, and outcomes. Male participants (n = 42,818) reported 27,929 pregnancies in their partners and female participants (n = 1269) reported 861 pregnancies. Reports of miscarriages and congenital malformation were clinically validated.

Derivative Studies

Three derivative studies were described in Volume 4; no new derivative studies were identified by the Update committee. Based on results of Maconochie et al. (2003), Doyle et al. (2004) examined the associations between risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, or congenital malformations for deployed and nondeployed women. Maconochie et al. (2004) assessed the risk of infertility male Gulf War veterans (females not included in study); self-reports were validated with clinical diagnosis. Findings from the 2004 study by Maconochie and colleagues are discussed in Chapter 4.

In a subanalysis of the population described by Maconochie et al. (2004) above, Simmons et al. (2004) indicated that 61% of Gulf War veterans reported at least one new medical symptom or disease since 1990 compared with 37% of nondeployed veterans. Further details regarding outcomes are described in Chapter 4.

Australian Veteran Studies

In Volume 4, the reference study for evaluations of the Australian Gulf War veterans was cited as Kelsall et al. (2004a) but the Update committee identified the original report of the study methods and initial findings (Sim et al., 2003). Sim et al. (2003) is considered to be the reference study in this report. Six derivative studies were described in Volume 4 (Forbes et al., 2004; Ikin et al., 2004; Kelsall et al., 2004a,b, 2005; McKenzie et al., 2004) and the Update committee identified two new derivative studies (Kelsall et al., 2006, 2007) based on the Sim et al. cohort. All of these studies are discussed in Chapter 4.

Reference Study

Investigators from Monash University in Australia conducted a study examining the health of all 1871 Australian veterans deployed to the Gulf War region from August 2, 1990, to September 4, 1991; members of the navy were overrepresented (86.5%) in this cohort (Sim et al. 2003). The control group consisted of 2924 nondeployed Australian Defence Force personnel matched by service type, sex, age, and military status. Participation rates were 81% (n = 1456) for the deployed and 57% (n = 1588) for the control group.

A postal questionnaire was distributed, which included the SF-12, GHQ-12, and questions regarding physical and psychological health, military service history, and exposures during deployment. In addition, participants were asked to attend one of 10 Health Services Australia medical clinics to undergo a comprehensive health assessment, a full physical examination, blood work, and fitness tests. Interview-administered questionnaires such as the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) were given to all participants (Sim et al., 2003). Gulf War veterans reported more general health symptoms and ones more severe in nature than the nondeployed controls. Chapter 4 discusses the findings of this reference study in greater detail.

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Derivative Studies

Kelsall et al. (2004a) reported the results of the Sim et al. (2003) report. They stated that participants in the exposed cohort reported a higher prevalence of all symptoms and reported more severe symptoms. Ikin et al. (2004) used responses to the CIDI and a service experience questionnaire to assess the relationship between the presence of a psychiatric disorder and the veterans’ perceptions of stressors during deployment. Very few personnel experienced direct combat; however, despite their lack of combat exposure, deployment was a stressful event with veterans experiencing higher rates of fear and threat of entrapment, attack (including nerve agent warfare), and death or injury. In a follow-up study, Ikin et al. (2005) found that reporting of stressful experiences was associated with younger age, lower rank, and deployment at the height of the conflict. Findings from Ikin et al. (2004) and Kelsall et al. (2004a) are discussed in Chapter 4.

McKenzie et al. (2004) reported that Gulf War veterans had poorer psychological health and that the number of stressful exposures correlated with poorer scores on three standard instruments used to measure functioning and psychological health. Greater symptom severity was seen in Australian veterans who received 10 or more immunizations; used PB, pesticides, or insect repellents; were present in a chemical weapons area; or reported stressful military service (Kelsall et al., 2004a). Kelsall et al. (2004b) also assessed the respiratory health status of a random sample of the Australian Gulf War veterans via questionnaire, spirometric testing, and a physical examination. Health status was assessed in relation to reported exposure to Kuwaiti oil-well fire smoke and dust storms. See Chapter 4 for more details.

In 2005, Kelsall and colleagues studied the neurological status of the Australian cohort. Of the 1424 deployed veterans who completed the postal questionnaire, 1382 undertook the neurological examination; 1376 of the 1548 controls completed both the questionnaire and neurological examination (described in Sim et al., 2003, above). The authors found an increase in the reporting of neurological symptoms associated with self-reports of immunizations and exposure to various chemical agents including PB and pesticides. Details regarding results are found in Chapter 4.

Forbes et al. (2004) used factor analysis to attempt to group symptom complexes for this cohort. This well-designed study confirms the extent and greater severity of symptoms in Gulf War veterans, even in a predominantly naval population with few direct military attacks, no deaths, and few casualties. The results suggest a deployment effect in the absence of actual combat.

The Update committee identified two new derivative studies of the Australian Gulf War veterans. Kelsall et al. (2006) also conducted a study on the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) from August 2000 to April 2002 in the Australian veterans. The participation rates were as follows: 1456 (80.5%) of the 1808 eligible veterans and 1588 (56.8%) of 2796 controls. Of those, 1384 deployed veterans and 1379 controls completed both the postal questionnaire and medical assessment. In addition to questions on general health, fitness tests, laboratory work, and pulmonary function, clinical examiners specifically inquired about any tiredness or fatigue following normal activities and its duration within the last 12 months. The odds of general fatigue increased with self-report of more PB tablets used, exposure to pesticides, belief in being near chemical weapons, and being in the gulf during air war. Findings are discussed in Chapter 4.

Male reproductive health in the deployed versus nondeployed population was also assessed. The study population consisted of the 1424 deployed veterans and 1548 controls who

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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completed the postal questionnaire; response rates were 80.5% among eligible deployed veterans and 56.8% of eligible nondeployed, as stated above. Questions of interest included those related to pregnancy outcomes (live birth, miscarriage, stillbirth), and for live births, participants were asked about date, weight, gestation, and birth defects (Kelsall et al., 2007). Detailed results regarding all outcomes for this study are found in Chapter 4.

Danish Peacekeeper Studies

One reference study was conducted on the Danish peacekeepers sent to the Persian Gulf at the end of the war (Ishoy et al., 1999b). Volume 4 cited four derivative studies based on the initial cohort. The Update committee did not identify any additional derivative studies on the Danish Gulf War veterans.

Reference Study

Military personnel from Denmark were involved in peacekeeping or humanitarian missions occurring predominantly after the Gulf War ceasefire, but were located in the same areas as other coalition forces who served in Gulf War combat (Ishoy et al., 1999b). A total of 821 Danes, deployed between August 1990 to December 1997, were eligible for inclusion in this population-based cohort; 686 (83.6%) agreed to participate in the study. The deployed veterans were matched by age, sex, and profession to 400 members of the Danish armed forces who were not deployed to the Gulf War; the participation rate was 57.8% (n = 231). Participants completed a detailed questionnaire, including 22 neuropsychologic symptoms, and then received detailed clinical health and laboratory examinations (e.g., height, weight, blood pressure, battery of urinary and blood work, battery of neuropsychologic tests) and physician interviews about their medical history and symptoms. Gulf War participants were also asked about their exposures while in the gulf. The examinations were conducted between 1997 and 1998. Further discussion of the findings is provided in Chapter 4.

Derivative Studies

Proctor et al. (2003) assessed neuropsychologic symptoms in the Danish Gulf War veterans. Gastrointestinal symptoms and diseases and symptoms related to the skin or allergies were evaluated by Ishoy et al. (1999a). Gastrointestinal symptoms were associated with two exposures: burning of waste or manure and exposure to insecticide against cockroaches (Ishoy et al., 1999a).

The investigators also examined male participants for sexual dysfunction and reproductive health. Self-reports of sexual problems were validated with medical examinations and laboratory testing, such as reproductive hormone parameters (Ishoy et al., 2001a,b). Further details can be found in Chapter 4.

One analysis investigated whether 22 neuropsychologic symptoms were associated with 18 self-reported environmental exposures5 (physical, chemical, biologic exposures, and psychological stressors) (Suadicani et al., 1999). Most exposures were significantly associated with three to five relevant neuropsychologic symptoms in bivariate analyses. One psychologic exposure (“having watched colleagues or friends threatened or shot at”) and environmental

5

Exposures did not include pyridostigmine bromide or vaccinations against chemical or biologic warfare agents, because Danish veterans had a peacekeeping role and thus were not at risk for chemical or biologic warfare.

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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exposures, especially “bathing in or drinking contaminated water (fumes, oil, chemicals),” remained significant after adjustment for associations of exposures with one another in a multiple logistic regression model.

Oregon and Washington Veteran Studies

One reference study discussed in Volume 4 examined Gulf War veterans who listed Oregon or Washington as their residence at the time of their deployment (McCauley et al., 1999a); two derivative studies were also described in that volume (Bourdette et al., 2001; Spencer et al., 2001). The Update committee did not identify any new studies that used this data set.

Investigators from the Portland Environmental Hazards Research Center examined numerous health outcomes in Gulf War veterans who were deployed between August 1, 1990, and July 31, 1991, and listed Oregon or Washington as their home state of record at the time of deployment; data was obtained from the DMDC (McCauley et al., 1999a).

Beginning November 1995 and ending in June 1998, a mailed questionnaire aimed to assess general health through symptom self-reports was distributed to a representative and random sample (n = 2343) of the total eligible 8603 Gulf War veterans mentioned above; the response rate was 48.4%. The study did not include a nondeployed comparison group. The next phase consisted of a clinical examination of the first 225 participants who showed differences between the symptoms they reported on questionnaires and the symptoms they reported at time of clinical examination. The greatest differences were in rash or lesions (4% agreement between questionnaire and clinical examination), gastrointestinal complaints (20% agreement), and musculoskeletal pain (35% agreement). The authors interpreted those findings as suggesting the likelihood of outcome misclassification due to reliance on self-administered questionnaires (McCauley et al., 1999a).

Derivative Studies

In Volume 4, Bourdette et al. (2001) was considered a reference study although it used the same data set as McCauley et al. (1999a). Bourdette and colleagues (2001) compared 244 potential cases of unexplained illness as evaluated through clinical examination with 113 potential controls from 799 of those eligible for the clinical study, and located participants who had completed the questionnaire described above. Findings from this study are discussed in Chapter 4.

A nested case-control analysis of the cohort examined 142 items related to Gulf War self-reported exposure that might account for cases of unexplained illness (Spencer et al., 2001). The sample consisted of 241 veterans with unexplained illness and 113 healthy controls (drawn from those who completed the 1995-1998 questionnaire above). According to multivariate analysis, exposures most highly associated with unexplained illness were combat conditions, heat stress, and having sought medical attention during the Gulf War. When controlled for multiple simultaneous exposures, PB exposure, insecticides and repellents, and stress were not statistically significantly associated with unexplained illness leading investigators to conclude that unexplained illnesses were not associated with cholinesterase-inhibiting neurotoxic chemicals. One strength of this study was its elimination of numerous self-reported exposures (such as anthrax and botulinum toxoid vaccines) with questionable validity as determined by lack of test-retest reliability or time-dependent information (for example, chemical weapon

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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exposure reported by precombat veterans or postcombat veterans who could not have been so exposed) (McCauley et al., 1999b).

Canadian Gulf War Veterans Study

In Volume 4 the Canadian Gulf War Veterans Study was not included in the presentation of major cohort studies. The Canadian study (Goss Gilroy, 1998) was considered to be a secondary study in Volume 4 and the Update committee agreed because the study relied on self-reports gathered through a mailed questionnaire. The Update committee identified one new study based on the Canadian Gulf War veterans (Statistics Canada, 2005), although it is unclear if the cohort in the new study was the same as that studied by Goss Gilroy, Inc. Findings from both studies are discussed in Chapter 4.

Reference Study

The Canadian Department of National Defence tasked Goss Gilroy (1998) to study the overall health status and prevalence of symptoms in all Canadian Forces personnel who were deployed to the Gulf War conflict compared to a representative sample of Canadian personnel who served in the military at the same time but who had not been deployed to the Persian Gulf. Military personnel were also compared to the general population as represented by the 1990 Ontario Health Survey. A survey questionnaire was mailed out to 9947 participants in 1997 and included information on sociodemographic factors, medical history and current status, and Gulf War deployment and exposure. Response rates were as follows: 73% (n = 3113) for the Gulf War deployed and 60.3% (n = 3439) for the deployed elsewhere controls. Income was the most important confounding factor, followed by rank. Lower income and lower rank personnel had a higher prevalence of adverse health outcomes than higher income and upper rank personnel. Psychological stressors, physical trauma, while in theater, and self-reported exposure to chemical warfare agents, such as PB, diesel or gasoline fumes, and infectious agents, was associated with adverse health outcomes (Goss Gilroy, 1998).

Derivative Study

A 9-year follow-up study was conducted on mortality and cancer incidence in the cohort of deployed Canadian personnel (n = 5117) compared to Canadian Forces who were eligible but not deployed to the gulf (n = 6093). The national mortality database and national cancer registry provided the information necessary for record linkage. No significant difference in risk of death was found between the two groups—42 deaths in the deployed cohort and 54 deaths in the nondeployed. No significant difference in risk of cancer diagnosis was observed—29 cases were diagnosed in the deployed and 42 cases were diagnosed in the nondeployed (Statistics Canada, 2005). Further details are found in Chapter 4.

Kansas Veteran Study

In Volume 4, the study of Kansas Gulf War veterans (Steele, 2000) was considered to be a secondary study for most health outcomes. No derivative studies using the Kansas cohort were identified in that volume, or by the Update committee.

Using lists of eligible veterans from the DMDC, Steele (2000) conducted a population-based survey to determine health problems of veterans who listed Kansas as their home state of

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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record. A stratified random sample of 3138 veterans was selected; 2396 (76%) were located with instate contact information and 2211 met further eligibility requirements. Of those, 2030 agreed to be interviewed; the response rate was 92%. The sample included 1548 Gulf War deployed veterans and 482 nondeployed veterans.

The survey, mailed out in 1998, inquired about 16 specific physician-diagnosed or physician-treated medical or psychiatric conditions; 37 symptoms; service branch and locations during the Gulf War (including whether the veterans were notified about the Khamisiyah demolitions); and vaccinations. Using her own definition of Gulf War illness, which was similar to that used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Fukuda et al., 1998), Steele found the prevalence of Gulf War illness to be associated with the period and location in the gulf in which veterans served. Findings from this study are discussed further in Chapter 4.

Fort Devens and New Orleans Cohort Studies

Gulf War veterans from military units stationed in Fort Devens, Massachusetts and New Orleans are among the most studied. The reference study is Proctor et al. (1998) which was described in Volume 4. Three derivative studies (Proctor et al., 2001a,b; White et al., 2001) from the cohort were described in Volume 4. The Update committee identified one additional study (Proctor et al., 2006), which is described in Chapter 4.

Reference Study

The symptom experience of two deployed cohorts of Gulf War veterans was studied by Boston-based researchers. The first, an army cohort based in Fort Devens, Massachusetts, was surveyed longitudinally at three time points (1991, 1993-1994, and 1997). From 1994 to 1996, Proctor (1998) surveyed the deployed cohorts (Fort Devens and New Orleans) with a medical and occupational history questionnaire, an environmental interview, a battery of neuropsychological tests, scales assessing psychological symptoms. Psychological symptoms were assessed with the Brief Symptom Interview and the Mississippi Scale for PTSD; psychiatric disorders were diagnosed using the Clinician Administered Scale for PTSD and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IIIR Axis I Disorders, and structured interviews assessing psychological outcomes. A second deployed cohort from New Orleans and a unit deployed to Germany during the Gulf War were studied only at the second time period. The Germany deployed unit, serving as the controls (n = 47), was an air ambulance company of National Guard from Maine that handled wounded personnel evacuated from the gulf. The study’s nearly 300 subjects were a stratified random sample of 2949 troops (n = 220) from Fort Devens and 928 (n = 73) from New Orleans; both groups consisted of active duty, reserve, and National Guard troops. See Chapter 4 for more detail.

Derivative Studies

Psychiatric interviews and other clinical evaluations were administered between 1993 and 1994 to all three cohorts. White et al. (2001) assessed neuropsychological functioning the cohorts and examined whether any links could be made between performance on a battery of tests and self-reported exposure to a variety of toxicants experienced during deployment. The neuropsychological test battery was designed to assess abilities across the following functional domains: general intelligence, attention/executive function, motor ability, visuospatial processing, verbal and visual memory, mood, and motivation. In addition, eight exposures were

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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surveyed, and respondents were asked to rate each on a scale of 0-2, (0 = no exposure; 1 = exposed; 2 = exposed and felt sick at the time). Using standardized regression, the authors found the strongest associations between musculoskeletal, neurologic, neuropsychologic, and psychologic symptoms and several exposures—debris from Scuds and chemical and biologic warfare agents. Findings from this study are discussed in Chapter 4.

The health-related quality of life among the Fort Devens cohort (n = 141) and the Germany deployed cohort (n = 46) was evaluated by Proctor et al. (2001a). The SF-36 was administered to a stratified, random sample of the original cohort, approximately 4 years after the war. Proctor et al. (2001b) assessed 180 deployed veterans from the Fort Devens cohort and 46 Germany deployed veterans for symptoms of chronic fatigue and chemical sensitivity to assess the prevalence of the symptoms and whether there was an overlap between these symptoms and the case definition of chronic multisymptom illness.

The Update committee identified one new derivative study. Proctor et al. (2006) assessed neurobehavioral functioning in relationship to potential exposure to sarin and cyclosarin as a result of the demolition of the Khamisiyah munitions dump. Data had been collected in 1994 to 1996, before veterans had been notified about their potential exposure to the nerve agents. The neurobehavioral tests included those for attention, executive function, psychomotor function, visuospatial abilities, and short-term memory. See Chapter 4 for further details.

Seabee Studies

Numerous studies have been conducted on the Seabees, members of the reserve naval construction battalions. Two reference studies were included in Volume 4. Haley et al. (1997b) began a study on one cohort of Seabees and Gray et al. (1999a) surveyed a subset of the Haley cohort that excluded Gulf War veterans who were no longer in the service at the time of their study. Three derivative studies for Haley et al. (1997b) are presented in Volume 4 along with two derivative studies for Gray et al. (1999a). The Update committee identified one new derivative study of the Haley et al. (1997b) cohort; none were identified for the Gray et al. (1999a) cohort.

Reference Study

Haley et al. (1997b) studied members of the Twenty-Fourth Reserve Naval Construction Battalion living in five southern states who were called to active duty for the Gulf War. More than half the battalion had left the military by the time of the study. Participants were recruited from those that investigators had addresses for and from veterans’ meetings; 58.0% (n = 606) were located, and 41.1% (n = 249) agreed to participate in the study; there was no comparison cohort of nondeployed veterans. Of those participating, 70% reported having had a serious health problem since returning from the Gulf War. A telephone survey of a random sample of nonparticipants found that, while they were demographically similar to participants, 43% reported having serious health problems since the war. Eleven percent of participants and 3% of nonparticipants were unemployed.

Derivative Studies

The three syndromes identified by Haley and colleagues (1997a) were the focus of another case-control study that examined their relationship to self-reported exposures to neurotoxicants. The study tested the hypothesis that exposure to organophosphates and related

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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chemicals that inhibit cholinesterase are responsible for the three nervous system-based syndromes (Haley and Kurt, 1997). Results of this study are discussed in Appendix A.

Another study by Haley and collaborators (1999) examined whether genetic susceptibility could play a role in placing some veterans at risk for neurologic damage by organophosphate chemicals. The investigators studied 45 veterans: 25 with chronic neurologic symptoms identified through their earlier factor analysis study and 20 healthy controls from the same battalion. Investigators measured blood butyrylcholinesterase and two types, or allozymes, of paraoxonase/arylesterase-1 (PON1). The genotypes encoding the allozymes were also studied. Results of this study are also discussed in Appendix A.

The Update committee identified one new study by Haley et al. (2009) that looked at abnormal brain response to cholinergic challenge in a small group of Gulf War veterans. Twenty-one Gulf War veterans with symptom complexes used by Haley to define three forms of Gulf War illness and 17 age-, sex- and education-matched controls, underwent a 99mTc-HMPAO-SPECT brain scan with and without an infusion of PB.

Reference Study

The first in a series of studies by Gray et al. (1999) surveyed Seabees who remained on active duty for at least 3 years after the Gulf War. The Seabees were from 14 commands at two locations (Port Hueneme, California, and Gulfport, Mississippi). Those who were deployed to the Gulf War were in mobile construction battalions serving in the same tasks and at the same sites as did the reserve Seabee battalion studied by Haley et al. (1997b), Gray et al. (1999) excluded Gulf War veterans who were no longer on active duty at the time of study.

In 1994, 1497 study subjects were enrolled: 527 Gulf War veterans and 970 nondeployed veterans. The participation rate of eligible Seabees was 53%. The following were administered to the study participants: eight-page questionnaire regarding medical history, Gulf War exposures, postwar symptoms, hospitalization, and pregnancy outcomes; questions regarding the presence of chronic fatigue syndrome and PTSD; laboratory testing—sera, blood, urine; and pulmonary function and handgrip strength tests. Findings of this study can be found in Chapter 4.

Derivative Studies

Beginning in May 1997, Gray et al. (2002) distributed a postal questionnaire to all regular and reserve navy personnel (n = 18,945) who served on active-duty Seabee command during the Gulf War period. The questionnaire collected information regarding medical history, current health status, symptoms, and environmental exposures (for example, PB). Of the 17,559 located participants, 11,868 completed and returned the survey: 3831 Gulf War deployed, 4933 deployed elsewhere, and 4933 nondeployed. Compared with the two control groups, the deployed were more likely to report having more symptoms and being in fair or poor health. Outcome specific results are found in Chapter 4.

Knoke et al. (2000) used the same Seabee cohort to conduct a factor analysis of the symptoms reported by the veterans on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist to determine whether there was a unique Gulf War syndrome.

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Pennsylvania Air National Guard Study

Reference Study

In response to requests from the DoD, the VA, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Fukuda and colleagues (1998) conducted a factor analysis study in 1995 to assess health status and prevalence and causes of an unexplained illness in Gulf War deployed and nondeployed members of a currently active Air National Guard unit (n = 667). Three demographically similar air force units were used as comparison groups (n = 538, 838, and 1680). Questionnaires regarding military characteristics, demographics, health status, and 35 specific symptoms previously identified to be of concern were distributed and completed by 3723 participants (1163 Gulf War deployed, 2560 nondeployed). Participation rates were as follows: 62% index unit; 35% unit A; 73% unit B; and 70% unit C. To assess symptom prevalence, investigators combined the four units and compared questionnaire responses of deployed and nondeployed. The authors further studied health outcomes in a subset of participants from the index unit of the Pennsylvania Air Force National Guard. Of the 490 (45%) deployed members of this unit, 173 (35%) volunteered to participate in the clinical evaluation and completed a mailed clinical questionnaire and the SF-36. This study is discussed in Chapter 4.

Derivative Studies

A nested case-control study of the same cohort (n = 1002) sought to identify self-reported exposures associated with cases of chronic multisymptom illness (Nisenbaum et al., 2000). Results indicate that meeting the case definition of severe and mild-to-moderate illness was associated with use of PB, use of insect repellent, and belief in a threat from biologic or chemical weapons. Having an injury requiring medical attention was also associated with having a severe case of chronic multisymptom illness. Nisenbaum et al. (2004) conducted a factor analysis of the symptoms reported by the UK Gulf War veterans combined with those reported by the Pennsylvania Air Force veterans. Further details from these studies are discussed in Chapter 4.

Hawaii and Pennsylvania Active Duty and Reserve Study

Reference Study

One of the first epidemiologic studies of US Gulf War veterans was a congressionally mandated study evaluating the psychologic and physical health of active-duty and reserve army, navy, air force, and marine personnel from bases in Pennsylvania and Hawaii (Stretch et al., 1995). Self-reported questionnaires were mailed to 16,167 potential study participants and inquired about the following: demographics; physical, psychological, and psychosocial symptoms; deployment type; and perceived sources of stress prior to, during, and after combat or deployment. A total of 4334 veterans returned the questionnaires for a response rate of 31%. Of those, 715 active duty and 766 reserves were deployed to the Gulf War; 1576 active duty and 948 reserves were not deployed. Findings are discussed in Chapter 4.

Derivative Studies

Two derivative studies of Stretch et al. (1995) were identified. In response to a questionnaire, deployed veterans commonly reported significant levels of stress during deployment, including operating in desert climates, long duty days, extended periods in

Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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chemical-protective clothing, lack of sleep, crowding, lack of private time, physical workload, and boredom. Significant levels of stress continued postdeployment (Stretch et al., 1996a). Another publication examined PTSD in this cohort (Stretch et al., 1996b). The prevalence of PTSD symptoms was measured by the Impact of Event Scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory.

New Orleans Reservist Studies

Reference Study

A study by Sutker et al. (1995) and colleagues analyzed psychologic outcomes in a cohort of New Orleans reservists (n = 1520). The cohort consisted of Louisiana National Guard and reservists from the army, air force, and navy who had been deployed to combat. Of the 1272 who responded (overall response rate of 83.7%), 876 had been deployed and 396 had not been deployed. A discriminant function model was used to assess the relationship between personal and environmental resources and psychological outcomes. Low personality hardiness, high avoidance coping, and low perceived family cohesion were the personality and coping factors found to increase the likelihood of PTSD (Sutker et al., 1995).

Derivative Studies

One derivative study of Sutker et al. (1995) was identified. Assessed by survey at an average of 9 months (time 1) after the war, veterans completed the Beck Depression Inventory, the Brief Symptom Inventory for Anxiety and Depression, the PTSD checklist, and the Mississippi Scale for PTSD (Brailey et al., 1998). See Chapter 4 for more detail.

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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

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×

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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×

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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
×
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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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Suggested Citation:"3 MAJOR COHORT STUDIES." Institute of Medicine. 2010. Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12835.
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For the United States, the 1991 Persian Gulf War was a brief and successful military operation with few injuries and deaths. However, soon after returning from duty, a large number of veterans began reporting health problems they believed were associated with their service in the Gulf. At the request of Congress, the IOM is conducting an ongoing review of the evidence to determine veterans' long-term health problems and what might be causing those problems. The fourth volume in the series, released in 2006, summarizes the long-term health problems seen in Gulf War veterans. In 2008, the IOM began an update to look at existing health problems and identify possible new ones, considering evidence collected since the initial summary.

In this report, the IOM determines that Gulf War service causes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that service is associated with multisymptom illness; gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome; alcohol and other substance abuse; and anxiety disorders and other psychiatric disorders. To ensure that our veterans receive the best possible care, now and in the future, the government should continue to monitor their health and conduct research to identify the best treatments to assist Gulf War veterans still suffering from persistent, unexplained illnesses.

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