Ten years after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, physical and laboratory evaluations reveal an increased risk of fibromyalgia, Chronic fatigue syndrome, skin conditions and indigestion in deployed veterans compared with nondeployed veterans.

While many studies have suggested an increased prevalence of symptoms among Gulf War veterans, others have failed to find an increased risk of illness. Members of the National Health Survey of Gulf War Era Veterans and Their Families research project previously showed that deployed veterans reported a higher prevalence of 29 self-reported medical conditions and 48 symptoms than did nondeployed veterans.

As an extension of that study, Dr. Seth A. Eisen, with the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and colleagues randomly selected 1,061 deployed veterans and 1,128 nondeployed veterans who underwent extensive medical and psychiatric examinations between 1999 and 2001. The findings are reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Compared with nondeployed veterans, deployed veterans were more likely to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia (2.0 versus 1.2 percent), chronic fatigue syndrome (1.6 versus 0.1 percent), skin conditions (34.6 versus 26.8 percent) and indigestion (9.1 versus 6.0 percent), respectively.

Differences between the two groups were not statistically different for high blood pressure, hepatitis, arthritic conditions, obstructive lung disease, Diabetes, peripheral neuropathy or thyroid disorders. The investigators also observed no significant differences in abnormalities in physical examinations.

The authors suggest that parasitic diseases, viral or Mycoplasma infections or silicates may have triggered activation or alteration of the immune system, leading to the increased prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Anthony L. Komaroff, from the Harvard Medical School in Boston, recommends that environmental exposures and immunizations given to military personnel be documented and that their health be closely monitored during conflict.

“A country that sends its young people to war has an obligation to study all illnesses that occur in the aftermath of war, not just traumatic injury,” he states. “Whatever the cause, the suffering is real.”

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, June 7, 2005.