Gulf War syndrome persists in US troops after 10 years: study

[DevilDog#1]

CHICAGO (AFP) - '
Gulf War syndrome', a debilitating multi-symptom affliction identified in many soldiers after the 1991 conflict in Kuwait, is likely to strike US troops fighting in Iraq, a new study shows.


The syndrome, which proved hard to diagnose because it manifested itself in many different afflictions, remained widespread among US troops 10 years after the Gulf War ended, according to the study, lead-authored by Melvin Blanchard, assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Blanchard's study will be published in January in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

A comprehensive medical evaluation of some 2,189 Gulf War veterans between 1999 and 2001 found that 28.9 percent of those deployed suffered from the affliction a decade after the war.

The rate for soldiers not deployed to the Gulf War was slightly more than half that, and usually not as severe.

The study's results suggest that soldiers fighting in Iraq today -- many of whose tours of duty are much longer than those in the previous war -- are likely to experience Gulf War syndrome as well.

"It's not unique to the Gulf," Blanchard told AFP. "It probably means there is a baseline in the (deployed) population, and the non-deployed reflect what happens in the general population."

"The military is trying to take better care of the soldiers' mental health in the field and that may have some bearing on the outcome, but I still expect to see CMI in those soldiers who are in Iraq now when they return," Blanchard said.

The long-term impacts could be severe, the study said, because those suffering from the syndrome were twice as likely to experience heart attacks, diabetes and liver disease.

Gulf War syndrome is the popular name for chronic multisymptom illness complex, or CMI. It was first identified by the Centers for Disease Control in 1994 after thousands of returning troops complained of numerous unexplained symptoms.

It is defined as having symptoms that fall into two of the three following groupings for more than six months: fatigue, mood and cognitive symptoms and musculoskeletal pain.

Blanchard said that a likely explanation for the illness is that the stress of combat released hormones that caused physiological changes.

Other high-stress situations such as divorce, job pressure or a death in the family could spark the syndrome, he said.

Earlier studies of Gulf War syndrome have examined the possibility of wartime stress, oil well fires and depleted uranium from US munitions, and a drug given to US soldiers to protect against nerve gas as the cause.

Some 100,000 of the 700,000 US soldiers who took part in the campaign to oust Iraq from Kuwait in 1991 have complained of experiencing at least one of the symptoms. British, French and Canadian troops were also affected.

In November, a British tribunal recognized for the first time that a former soldier was suffering from
Gulf War Syndrome and should receive an invalid's pension.

Blanchard's study is the most comprehensive study of Gulf War syndrome to date. Comprehensive examinations including medical and psychiatric histories, general physicals, and neurological, pulmonary, nerve conduction, neuropsychological and clinical lab tests were performed on 1,061 deployed and 1,128 non-deployed veterans in the study.

While there was no evidence of an association of the syndrome with kidney, liver or lung disease, thyroid problems, blood abnormalities or neuropathy, the authors found that veterans with the syndrome were two times as likely to have metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of health risks that increase the likelihood of developing heart attacks, diabetes and liver disease. They include high blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and weight levels.

The study did show that CMI can dissipate over time in some people. Earlier studies detected the syndrome in about 45 percent of returning Gulf War troops. But by ten years after the war, the level was down to just below 30 percent.

I wish they let the people know earlier ... 10 years is too long to play with people's lives

[BADDOG]

Many men were damaged both physically and mentally by the second war but one seldom hears of a world war 2 "syndrome". Post traumatic distress disorder has always existed from the beginning of time for those who's lives as soldiers involve any act of violence because that is the nature of their sordid and often dirty work in the name of what ever belief be it political or religious.

I mean no disrespect to any former combat soldier from any conflict, believe me in my short time I've seen and done things that are at best very questionable but being a soldier, sailor or airman brings with it inherent risks and when a conflict breaks out all kinds of weapons are used often to devastating effect and those weapons do not always hit the correct targets so there will always be long term consequences of warfare to all those involved.

Until mankind finds a better or should I say civilised way of settling it's differences the inevitable suffering be it Gulf war "syndrome" or post traumatic distress disorder or as it was once reffered to, (eventually) in the Great War shellshock, this kind of thing will always be with us.

We have close on ten thousands years or so of "civilisation" behind us and in those ten millenia we have become more adapt at killing each other much more efficiently to such an extent that the last century we have just left behind became the bloodiest in our history......let us all hope and pray that in this century we do not leave behind an even bloodier legacy.

Regards

[Hellfighter]

true and sad like all wars there going to be some who never be the same again, body,mind, soul be no longer the same been that way for a long time now. don't think there ever be a safe war were one body,soul,mind not be hurt by war.

for thousand of years it been that way. don't think that will every end.

doing studies on the people who were in a war zone is a cheap way to make money, its a joke to me totally grants to do a studies on people who was in a war zone area is a joke bottom line there going to be some who been hurt by it we already know that and there going to be no way to make it better or fix it, only way ban war totally! we know that will never happen. to many people like to make money off it.