Spencer P S, McCauley L A, Joos S K, Lasarev M R, Schuell T, Bourdette D, Barkhuizen A, Johnston W, Storzbach D, Wynn M, Grewenow R
Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201, USA.
Toxicol Lett. 1998 Dec 28;102-103:515-21. doi: 10.1016/s0378-4274(98)00258-6.
Approximately 80,000 of the 697,000 American men and women who were stationed in SW Asia during the Gulf War (GW) report unexplained illness consisting of symptoms of persistent fatigue, cognitive difficulties, such as mild memory loss, diffuse muscle and joint pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, skin lesions, and respiratory problems, among others. Associations between major symptom groups and periods of deployment in the theater of operations have been sought in a population-based, clinical case-control study of GW veterans resident in the north-western region of the United States. No statistically significant differences were evident in the proportion of cases with unexplained fatigue, cognitive/psychological or musculoskeletal symptoms among veterans present in SW Asia in 3 specific time periods: (a) 8/1/1990-12/31/1990 (which includes Desert Shield), (b) the period surrounding Desert Storm (1/1/1991-3/31/1991), and (c) the (post-combat) period immediately following hostilities (4/1/1991-7/31/1991). There was a trend for all 3 case symptoms to be more common among GW veterans who served in the post-combat period. As numbers in these deployment groups were small, and power to detect differences low, the apparent absence of significant differences in the frequency of major symptom groups among these veterans requires confirmation in a larger study. Deployment for discrete periods in SW Asia is a method to separate distinct constellations of environmental factors; these are useful for analyses of associations among symptoms and exposures given the near-total absence of objective data on chemical and other possible exposures in the theater of operations.
在海湾战争期间驻扎在西南亚的69.7万美国男女军人中，约有8万人报告患有无法解释的疾病，这些疾病包括持续疲劳、认知困难（如轻度记忆丧失）、弥漫性肌肉和关节疼痛、胃肠道症状、皮肤病变以及呼吸问题等症状。在美国西北部地区对海湾战争退伍军人进行的一项基于人群的临床病例对照研究中，研究人员探讨了主要症状组与战区部署时期之间的关联。在三个特定时间段内驻扎在西南亚的退伍军人中，出现无法解释的疲劳、认知/心理或肌肉骨骼症状的病例比例没有统计学上的显著差异：(a) 1990年8月1日至1990年12月31日（包括沙漠盾牌行动），(b) 沙漠风暴行动期间（1991年1月1日至1991年3月31日），以及(c) 敌对行动结束后的（战斗后）时期（1991年4月1日至1991年7月31日）。在战斗后时期服役的海湾战争退伍军人中，所有这三种病例症状都有更为常见的趋势。由于这些部署组中的人数较少，检测差异的能力较低，因此这些退伍军人中主要症状组出现频率明显没有显著差异这一情况需要在更大规模的研究中得到证实。在西南亚进行不同时期的部署是一种区分不同环境因素组合的方法；鉴于战区几乎完全缺乏关于化学和其他可能暴露的客观数据，这些方法对于分析症状与暴露之间的关联很有用。
