E
Activities (as of September 1994) Related to Potential Health Consequences of Service in the Persian Gulf
Activity |
Organization |
Nature of Activity |
Boards and Committees |
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Persian Gulf Expert Scientific Panel |
Office of the Chief Medical Director for Environmental Medicine and Public Health, VA |
Provide advice to the VA on diagnosis, treatment and research on PG-related health conditions. |
Task Force on Persian Gulf War Health Effects |
Defense Science Board, DoD |
Report to the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition) on review of all available reports of detection of chemical agents and toxins during ODS/S and postwar period; and review scientific and medical evidence relating exposure to nerve agents, environmental pollutants, endemic biology and other health hazards (DSB, 1994). |
Persian Gulf Veterans Coordinating Board |
Secretaries of DoD, HHS, and VA |
Ensure interagency coordination of all efforts, separate and joint, in the areas of research, clinical care, and disability determination and compensation for post-DOS/S unexplained illnesses (PGVCB, 1994). |
Persian Gulf Interagency Research Coordinating Council |
DoD, EPA, HHS, and VA |
Coordinate all research activities undertaken or funded by the Executive Branch of the federal government on the health consequences of military service in PG theater; VA appointed as lead agency (PL 102-585. sec. 707). |
Activity |
Organization |
Nature of Activity |
NIH Technology Assessment Workshop: The Persian Gulf Experience and Health |
Persian Gulf Interagency Research Coordinating Council |
Develop a case definition of ''mystery illness'' and provide a list of recommendations. April 27–29, 1994 (NIH Technology Assessment Workshop Panel, 1994). |
Population-Based Activities |
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Registry of unit locations |
Environmental Support Group, Dept. of the Army |
Database that identifies the daily location of PG units. |
Health-Outcomes-Based Activities—Completed or Well Underway |
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Constructing a Case Definition |
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Working Group on Unexplained Illnesses |
Walter Reed Army Medical Center |
Review and analyze medical records of ODS/S veterans with unexplained symptoms to establish a working case definition for post-PG unexplained illnesses. |
Outbreak Investigations |
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Investigation of a possible outbreak among ODS veterans, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind. |
Division of Preventive Medicine, WRAIR |
Examined and surveyed 79 soldiers with unexplained signs and symptoms. |
Post-Persian-Gulf illness reported in Naval Reserve Mobile Construction Battalion 24 |
Navy Preventive Medicine Unit 2, Dept. of the Navy |
Follow-up of members of construction battalion units reporting unexplained signs and symptoms. |
VA Health Registry and Clinical Evaluations |
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|
Persian Gulf Health Registry |
Environmental Agents Service, VA |
Collects data from PG veterans self-referred for examination at VAMC. |
Review of Health Registry Data |
Environmental Epidemiology Service, VA |
Descriptive analysis of registry data. |
Persian Gulf Referral Centers |
Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and West Los Angeles, Calif. |
Local VAMC physicians refer PG veterans for more extensive physical examinations, when needed. |
Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program |
Office of Health Affairs, DoD |
Clinical three-phase evaluation of active duty PG veterans and family members with unexplained signs and symptoms. |
Mental Health |
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|
Desert Storm Reunion Survey |
Boston, Mass., VAMC |
Determine impact of combat and noncombat experiences on subsequent pattern of adjustment (NEPEC, 1992; Wolfe et al., 1993). |
Neuropsychological and psychological profiles of PG soldiers returning home |
Boston, Mass., VAMC |
Neuropsychiatric evaluation to diagnose PTSD and anxiety disorders. |
Activity |
Organization |
Nature of Activity |
Development of neuropsychological function norms and assessment of neurotoxin exposure in PGW veterans and controls |
Birmingham, Ala., VAMC |
Provide basic neuropsychological and environmental exposure database information as core project support for future studies of symptomatic veterans and controls from the PGW. |
Early intervention with Appalachian Marine reservists in ODS |
Mt. Home, Tenn., VAMC |
Debriefing PG veterans on the stresses of deployment and combat-related PTSD (NEPEC, 1992; Sloan et al., unpublished a, b). |
Investigation of relation between experience in ODS and postwar adjustment |
Clarksburg, W.V., VAMC and Dept. of Psychology, West Virginia University |
Investigate the effects that involvement in ODS may have had on veterans, their spouses, or significant others, and their children (Scotti et al., 1993). |
Psychological assessment of ODS returnees |
New Orleans, La., VAMC |
Ongoing debriefing and assessment protocol conducted among troops mobilized in support of the PGW (NEPEC, 1992; Sutker et al., 1993, 1994a, 199b). |
Psychological adjustment in ODS/S veterans |
Gainesville, Fla., VAMC |
Conduct psychological tests to determine if differences existed between PG veterans and controls in terms of overall mental health (NEPEC, 1992). |
ODS follow-up survey |
Salt Lake City, Utah, VAMC |
To elicit VAMC employees' perceptions of ODS activation, deployment, and reintegration experiences. |
ODS Outreach Program |
Cincinnati, Ohio, VAMC |
Explore relation between early life stressors, combat stressors, coping skills and current level of symptomatology. |
Other completed VAMC studies |
|
Evaluation of possible psychological consequences of PG service (NEPEC, 1992). |
West Haven VAMC ODS report |
West Haven, Conn. |
(NEPEC, 1992) |
The PG Outreach Program at the Little Rock VAMC |
Little Rock, Ark. |
(NEPEC, 1992) |
An Evaluation of Troops Returning from the PG: A Preliminary Report |
Providence, R.I. |
(NEPEC, 1992) |
Coming Home for Good: The ODS Veterans and Family Psychosocial Debriefing Project |
Portland, Oreg. |
(NEPEC, 1992) |
Activity |
Organization |
Nature of Activity |
The Need for Continuing Mental Health Intervention in Soldiers Returning form the PGW: Assessment of Deployed and Non-Deployed Reserve Units from Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and West Virginia |
Highland Drive, Pa. |
(NEPEC, 1992) |
PG Veterans Seen Through VA's Readjustment Counseling Service and Impact of the PGW on VA's Provision of Readjustment Counseling |
Washington, D.C. |
(NEPEC, 1992) |
Stress-related surveys of active duty, national guard, and reserve personnel |
Dept. of Military Psychology, WRAIR |
Assess stresses and psychological and psychosocial impacts of commitment to combat and probable stress consequences, such as posttraumatic and postdeployment stress symptoms and stresses due to return and adjustment. |
Leishmaniasis |
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Leishmaniasis research |
Infectious Disease Section, WRAIR |
Clinical assessment of viscerotropic leishmaniasis as a potential cause of some of the unexplained PGW illnesses. |
Health-Outcomes-Based Activities—New or Just Beginning |
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Reproductive Health |
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Children of PG veterans |
Jackson, Miss., VAMC, CDC, Miss. State Health Department |
Clearinghouse for data on reported birth defects in children of members of Waynesboro, Miss., National Guard. |
GAO Birth Defects Report |
GAO |
Review of reproductive outcomes among children of PG veterans. |
Mortality study |
Environmental Agents Service, VA |
Study of mortality of all PG veterans compared to PG-era veterans. |
Health survey |
Environmental Agents Service, VA |
Study of prevalence of health outcomes in 15,000 PG veterans and 15,000 PG-era veterans. |
Iowa survey |
National Center for Environmental Health, CDC |
Assess prevalence of self-reported adverse health outcomes among Iowa residents who were deployed to the PG during ODS compared to Iowa veterans deployed elsewhere during the same era. |
Activity |
Organization |
Nature of Activity |
Epidemiologic studies of morbidity among PG veterans |
Clinical Epidemiology Branch, Naval Health Research Center |
1) Cohort study of members of PG and control construction battalions; 2) cohort study of PG veterans and control hospitalization diagnoses; and 3) outcomes of hospitalization for pregnancy among cohorts in study 2. |
Exposure-Based Activities |
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Environmental |
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Air monitoring of oil well fires |
U.S. Interagency Air Assessment Team (EPA, HHS, NOAA) and representatives from Coast Guard, DoD, DOE |
Assessed pollutants from oil well fires. |
Report to Congress: United States Gulf Environmental Technical Assessment (January 27–July 31, 1991) |
International cooperative effort coordinated by U.N.; EPA coordinated U.S. activities (PL 102-27, sec. 309) |
Coordinated effort of international activities in response to health, atmospheric, and environmental impacts of oil discharge and fires. |
Report to Congress on health effects of exposure to burning oil fields |
DoD—Depts. of Army, Navy, and Air Force |
Results of Army, Navy, and Air Force studies of potential health consequences of exposure to fumes from burning oil. |
Environmental toxicology studies |
Dept. of Environmental and Toxicologic Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology |
Human autopsy studies; veterinary pathology reports with toxicological results of potentially hazardous PG environmental exposures. |
Kuwait Oil Fire Health Risk Assessment |
USAEHA |
Quantitative assessment of carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic health risks of exposure to oil well fires (USAEHA, 1992; 1994a). |
Biologic Surveillance Initiative |
USAEHA, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology |
Biologic Surveillance Initiative: Surveillance of German-based 11th Armored Calvary (before, during, and after deployment to the PG) (USAEHA 1994b). |
Laboratory studies of pesticides |
Army Research and Development Command, Dept. of the Army |
Proposed activities: USAEHA will study the effects of combined exposure to PB, DEET, and permethrin in rats; South Florida Research Corporation will study the effects of PB in humans (men and women); Duke University will study the delayed reactions in chickens of exposure to DEET, permethrin, and sarin. |