Contrary to what has been shown in other reports, Gulf War veterans and their spouses are not at increased risk for peripheral neuropathy, a type of nerve problem that often involves numbness and tingling in the arms and legs, new research shows.

The reason for these different findings may relate to the fact that previous studies relied largely on veterans reporting their own symptoms to determine the presence of neuropathy, whereas the current study involved direct neurologic examination of the subjects.

In the new study, Dr. Larry E. Davis, from the New Mexico VA Health Care System in Albuquerque, and colleagues performed neurologic examinations on 1061 veterans deployed to the Persian Gulf in the early 1990s and 1128 veterans not deployed to the Gulf.

A similar comparison was performed in 484 spouses of Gulf War veterans and 533 spouses of a comparison group of veterans, according to the report in the medical journal Neurology.

Depending on the diagnostic method used, the rate of peripheral neuropathy ranged from 2.6 to 7.3 percent. However, regardless of the method used, the rate of neuropathy did not differ much between Gulf War veterans and non-Gulf veterans or between their spouses.

The authors also found no evidence that exposure to a toxic agent released during the Gulf War raised the risk of peripheral neuropathy.

“This study is the largest…objective evaluation of the neurologic health of Gulf War deployed veterans and non-deployed veterans and their spouses,” the authors state. “There is no evidence that deployment to the Persian Gulf caused…nerve damage that is present 10 years later.”

SOURCE: Neurology, September 28, 2004.