Upshall D G
Biomedical Sciences, Chemical and Biological Defence Sector, DERA Porton Down, Salisbury.
J R Army Med Corps. 2000 Feb;146(1):13-7. doi: 10.1136/jramc-146-01-03.
In the years after Operation Desert Storm and Operation Granby, some 4-8% of veterans of the conflict began to report symptoms of illness. Common complaints included fatigue, impaired cognition, joint pain, sleep disturbances, and chest pains. Between 1992 and 1994 in the USA, and later in the UK, governments set up medical assessment programmes to define the scope of the problem in qualitative and quantitative terms. Initial efforts moved to extensive epidemiological assessment and a search for causative mechanisms of what became termed "Gulf War Syndrome". Eventually significant sums of money were invested in medical and investigative research in an attempt to relate symptoms to causes. This paper presents the historical background and context to the problem of Gulf and war related illnesses, summarises the findings of relevant epidemiological studies and discusses some of the hypotheses that have been generated to explain the clusters of symptoms reported by veterans. Finally, the current UK research programme and its underlying rationale is presented. The aim is to provide an overview of the current position and assist in the interpretation of a diagnostically difficult area.
在沙漠风暴行动和格兰比行动后的数年里，约4%至8%的参战退伍军人开始报告患病症状。常见症状包括疲劳、认知障碍、关节疼痛、睡眠障碍和胸痛。1992年至1994年期间，美国政府随后在英国，设立了医疗评估项目，从定性和定量方面界定问题的范围。最初的工作转向广泛的流行病学评估，并探寻后来被称为“海湾战争综合征”的致病机制。最终投入了大量资金用于医学和调查研究，试图将症状与病因联系起来。本文介绍了海湾及战争相关疾病问题的历史背景和情况，总结了相关流行病学研究的结果，并讨论了为解释退伍军人报告的症状群而提出的一些假说。最后，介绍了英国目前的研究项目及其基本原理。目的是概述当前状况，并协助解读这一诊断困难的领域。
