McKenzie D P, Ikin J F, McFarlane A C, Creamer M, Forbes A B, Kelsall H L, Glass D C, Ittak P, Sim M R
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Psychol Med. 2004 Nov;34(8):1419-30. doi: 10.1017/s0033291704002818.
Elevated rates of psychological morbidity and symptomatology have been widely reported in 1991 Gulf War veterans. The present study used brief self-report instruments to compare the psychological health of Australian Gulf War veterans with that of a randomly sampled military comparison group.
The 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist--Specific (PCL-S) and Military Service Experience (MSE) questionnaire were administered to 1424 male Australian Gulf War veterans and 1548 male Australian Defence Force members who were operational at the time of the Gulf War conflict, but were not deployed there.
The Gulf War veterans exhibited poorer psychological health, as measured by the above three instruments, than the comparison group members. For Gulf War veterans, the number of stressful experiences, as measured by the MSE questionnaire, was correlated with scores on the three instruments. SF-12 mental health component summary scores and PCL-S caseness, but not GHQ-12 caseness, differed significantly between Gulf War veterans and comparison group members who had been on at least one active deployment.
More than a decade after the 1991 Gulf War, Australian Gulf War veterans are exhibiting higher levels of current (past month) psychological ill-health, as measured using the GHQ-12 and PCL-S, as well as lower mental health status, as measured by the SF-12, than the comparison group. Although not a replacement for formal psychiatric diagnosis, instruments such as those above may aid in the assessment of veterans' psychological health.
1991年海湾战争退伍军人中心理疾病和症状发生率升高的情况已被广泛报道。本研究使用简短的自我报告工具，比较了澳大利亚海湾战争退伍军人与随机抽取的军事对照组的心理健康状况。
对1424名参加过海湾战争的澳大利亚男性退伍军人和1548名在海湾战争冲突期间服役但未被部署到该地的澳大利亚国防军男性成员，进行了12项简短健康调查问卷（SF - 12）、12项一般健康问卷（GHQ - 12）、创伤后应激障碍检查表——特定版（PCL - S）和军事服役经历（MSE）问卷的调查。
通过上述三种工具测量，海湾战争退伍军人的心理健康状况比对照组成员更差。对于海湾战争退伍军人，MSE问卷测量的压力经历数量与这三种工具的得分相关。在至少有过一次实战部署的海湾战争退伍军人和对照组成员之间，SF - 12心理健康分量表总分和PCL - S病例状态存在显著差异，但GHQ - 12病例状态无显著差异。
在1991年海湾战争过去十多年后，与对照组相比，使用GHQ - 12和PCL - S测量，澳大利亚海湾战争退伍军人目前（过去一个月）的心理不健康水平更高，使用SF - 12测量，其心理健康状况更低。尽管上述工具不能替代正式的精神病学诊断，但它们可能有助于评估退伍军人的心理健康。
