Fw: Health of UK Gulf War Veterans Substantially Poorer Than That of Controls

[Guest guest]

This is particularly distressing to me, as my firstborn son just got Army

directed orders to Korea, which includes the requirement to get the Anthrax

vaccination.....it was the one thing I feared most.

Patty

From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 12:37 PM

Subject: Health of UK Gulf War Veterans Substantially Poorer Than That of

Controls

~~~ thanks Margo ~~~

http://neurology.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2001/04/04.13/20010412epid009.htm

l

Health of UK Gulf War Veterans Substantially Poorer Than That of Controls

------------------------------------------------------------------------

WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Apr 12 - UK veterans of the Gulf war report

significantly poorer health compared with controls, and a substantial

number report symptoms that may be associated with inoculations and

pesticide exposure, according to two reports by the same research group in

the May issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Using information from the Ministry of Defence, Dr. Nicola Cherry, from

the University of Manchester, and colleagues collected data on 14,378 men

and women, including 4795 in a main cohort and 4793 in a validation cohort

of individuals who were sent to the Gulf, and a control cohort of 4790

individuals not sent to the Gulf.

Seven years after the war, the researchers asked participants to complete

a questionnaire about their health in the last month. The combined mean

symptom severity score among those who had been to the Gulf was 3.0

compared with 1.7 among controls. Cluster analysis showed that

psychological, peripheral, respiratory, gastrointestinal and concentration

symptoms were significantly worse among those who had been to the Gulf.

Symptoms suggestive of neuropathy were reported by 12.5% of the Gulf war

veterans compared with 6.8% of the non-Gulf war group. Furthermore, 12.2%

of the Gulf war veterans reported widespread pain compared with 6.5% among

controls, Dr. Cherry's group found.

In the second part of their study, the researchers tried to uncover the

relationship between exposure to environmental conditions and pain or

peripheral neuropathy. Using a separate questionnaire, they collected data

on exposure to various environmental agents among 7971 individuals who had

been to the Gulf.

The length of exposure to smoke from burning oil wells, the number of

inoculations given in preparation for or during deployment, and the length

of time handling pesticides were positively although weakly associated

with the severity of symptoms, the investigators found. The number of

inoculations was positively linked with musculoskeletal complaints, and

symptoms of toxic neuropathy were associated with the number of days spent

handling pesticides.

" The Gulf war reminded us all that health problems after conflicts still

occur despite decreasing combat and increasing peacekeeping activities of

modern military forces, " Dr. Khalida Ismail, from Guy's, King's and St.

's Hospital in London, writes in a journal editorial.

" From an occupational health perspective, strategies to prevent or reduce

health problems after conflict need to be developed ã such as routine

surveillance, risk communication, and keeping systematic medical records, "

Dr. Ismail stresses.

Occup Environ Med 2001;58:289-306.