ArticleHealth Status of Female and Male Gulf War and Gulf Era Veterans: A Population-Based Study
Section snippets
Methods
Data from this study come from the follow-up study of a national cohort of Gulf War and Gulf Era veterans. This study was conducted between 2012 and 2014, and was the second follow-up of a population-based cohort of Gulf War and Gulf Era veterans that began in 1995 (Kang et al., 2000). The sample consisted of a population-based permanent panel of 30,000 veterans (15,000 Gulf War veterans and 15,000 Gulf Era veterans), stratified by gender and unit component. The 15,000 Gulf War veterans were
Results
Military and demographic characteristics of the study population, stratified by gender, are reported in Table 1. In this study, we calculated response rate according to the American Association for Public Opinion Research standards, which is the number of completed interviews by sample members divided by the total number of eligible sample members. The non-eligible category for this study was narrowly defined and included veterans who were correctly identified but who were incarcerated or
Discussion
In this article, we presented population prevalence estimates and relative odds of disease in female and male Gulf War veterans almost 25 years after the Gulf War to fill a well-recognized gap in the literature (Danan et al., 2017, National Academy of Medicine (NAM), 2016). To our knowledge, this is the first article to report gender-specific disease prevalence estimates in the Gulf War and Gulf Era population. The 10 most prevalent chronic medical conditions in women veterans, both Gulf War
Implications for Policy and/or Practice
This article is the first to report gender-specific prevalence of health conditions in the Gulf War and Gulf War Era veteran population. Our analyses demonstrated that, overall, female veterans report poorer health than male veterans, with a significantly increased burden of mental health conditions as well as symptom-based conditions. Women veterans, particularly deployed veterans, from this era have significant medical needs that may justify increased outreach from the VA. The proportion of
Conclusions
These findings demonstrate the importance of asking about military service in the clinical setting, both within VA and the private sector; providers should always ask veterans about potential exposures and health concerns related to their service. It is especially relevant for clinicians providing care to women veterans to be attentive to gender-specific health concerns that may be associated with service.
Erin K. Dursa, PhD, MPH, is a senior epidemiologist in the Post Deployment Health Services. Her work focuses on the health effects of military deployments, specifically medically unexplained illness among veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
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Combinations of classical and non-classical voltage dependent potassium channel openers suppress nociceptor discharge and reverse chronic pain signs in a rat model of Gulf War illness
2022, NeuroToxicologyCitation Excerpt :GWI is a multisymptom disorder that can be clustered into 3 major, but overlapping, syndromes with primary features of chronic pain, confusion-ataxia and cognitive deficits (Haley and Kurt, 1997). The symptoms of chronic pain are a diverse mixture of deep tissue pains, that can include muscle, back, joint, visceral and headache pains (Thomas et al., 2006; Haley et al., 2013; White et al., 2016; Maule et al., 2018; Porter et al., 2018; Dursa et al., 2019). Over the last decade, our laboratory has investigated the cellular and molecular pathophysiology of GWI pain (Nutter et al., 2015; Flunker et al., 2017; Cooper et al., 2018).
Development of KVO treatment strategies for chronic pain in a rat model of Gulf War Illness
2022, Toxicology and Applied PharmacologyCitation Excerpt :Those that suffer from chronic pain manifest an unusual variety of symptoms that defy simple explanation. These include combinations of muscle, back, joint, abdominal and headache pains (Blanchard et al., 2006; Stimpson et al., 2006; Thomas et al., 2006; Haley et al., 2013; White et al., 2016; Maule et al., 2018; Porter et al., 2018; Dursa et al., 2019). After more than two decades, an effective treatment for GWI has not been identified.
Molecular mechanisms for the antidepressant-like effects of a low-dose ketamine treatment in a DFP-based rat model for Gulf War Illness
2020, NeuroToxicologyCitation Excerpt :Sex differences in pharmacokinetic profile of KET are thought to underlie variable antidepressant response in females versus males (Zanos et al., 2016). As far as sex differences in GWI are concerned, female Gulf War veterans reported greater prevalence of GWI than their male counterparts (Dursa et al., 2019; Heboyan et al., 2019). In animal models, sexually dimorphic effects of exposure to Gulf War factors have been reported including differences in TrkB levels (Carreras et al., 2018).
Accelerating the Growth of Evidence-Based Care for Women and Men Veterans
2019, Women's Health Issues
Erin K. Dursa, PhD, MPH, is a senior epidemiologist in the Post Deployment Health Services. Her work focuses on the health effects of military deployments, specifically medically unexplained illness among veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
Aaron I. Schneiderman, PhD, MPH, RN, is Director of the Post Deployment Health Services Epidemiology Program, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. His research focuses on the effects of military-related occupational and environmental exposures on the health and well-being of veterans.
Shannon K. Barth, MPH, is a PhD student in Epidemiology at West Virginia University. Additionally, she is a Graduate Research Assistant at the West Virginia University Injury Control Research Center and a Program Analyst at the Department of Veterans Affairs VISN 2 Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention.
Ben W. Porter, PhD, held a WOC (without compensation) appointment with Research Services, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. He is employed as a Biostatistician for Leidos, Inc., working on the Department of Defense's Millennium Cohort Study.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.