[NVIC] No Gulf War Syndrome Says IOM - Panel Refutes 'Gulf War Syndrome'

[Guest guest]

" D....>

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 16:51:46 -0700 (PDT)

[Dr] [NVIC] No Gulf War " Syndrome " Says IOM - Panel Refutes

'Gulf War Syndrome'

 

 

 

 

 

Panel Refutes 'Gulf War Syndrome'

WebMD Medical News

September 12, 2006

 

By Todd Zwillich

Sept. 12, 2006 -- A government advisory panel on Tuesday said it could

find no evidence of a 'Gulf War syndrome' afflicting U.S. soldiers who

served in Iraq and Kuwait in the early 1990s, though it did affirm

that combat veterans do suffer increased rates of many individual

ailments.

 

The conclusion was a blow to veterans who maintain that exposures to

pesticides, weapons residues, or other chemicals caused a set of

symptoms unique to their service in Operation Desert Storm. The

symptoms included fatiguefatigue, memory loss, severe headaches, and

respiratory and skin ailments, which interfered with normal daily

activities.

 

Those symptoms and others have penetrated the American lexicon as

'Gulf War syndrome.' But experts convened by the Institute of Medicine

(IOM) said that their review of 850 studies shows it doesn't exist.

 

While studies show that Gulf War veterans are at higher risk than

nondeployed soldiers for a variety of illnesses, " the results of that

research indicate that there is not a unique symptom complex (or

syndrome) in deployed Gulf War veterans, " the report stated.

 

Seeking Compensation

 

Congress and the Veterans Administration rely in part on IOM to

determine compensation levels for various illnesses. The VA has

resisted calls to classify Gulf War symptoms as a service-connected

syndrome. Tuesday's conclusions appear to make it less likely that

soldiers will be able to prove to the government's satisfaction that

their symptoms are a result of service in Iraq and therefore deserving

of full compensation.

 

" It makes it much harder to make that case, " Shannon Middleton,

assistant director of health policy at the American Legion, tells WebMD.

 

The Pentagon began ordering soldiers to undergo health evaluations

before deployment in the 1990s after complaints about a Gulf War

syndrome first surfaced. But earlier studies usually lacked control

groups or measures of soldiers' health before the war -- factors

researchers consider vital to understanding the cause of disease.

 

High Rate of Complaints

 

Thirty percent of Gulf War veterans complain of some form of

" multisymptom " illness, often including fatigue, depression, anxiety,

pain, or gastrointestinal problems. About half as many nondeployed

veterans complain of those symptoms, according to the report.

 

Complaints of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, while more

frequent in combat veterans, were not generally borne out by heart and

lung function tests.

 

" They're not different from the symptoms deployed people have. They

just report them at a higher rate, " Lynn R. Goldman, MD, who chaired

the panel that issued the report, tells WebMD.

 

" There is not particular constellation of symptoms that's unique to

Gulf War vets, " says Goldman, a professor at the Bloomberg School of

Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.

 

The report did validate the higher rates of depression, anxiety,

posttraumatic stress, and substance abuse often seen in combat

veterans and those with prolonged service in battle theatres.

 

Sick or Not Sick?

 

Still, the results angered some Gulf War activists. Joyce Riley,

spokeswoman for the American Gulf War Veterans Association, called the

report " one more blow " for soldiers returned from the war.

 

That group and others maintain that as many as 150,000 Gulf War

veterans suffer from disabling symptoms unique to their service in

Iraq and Kuwait but that full compensation remains out of reach.

 

Riley called the debate over a definition of Gulf War syndrome

" meaningless. "

"

Are they sick, or are they not sick, " says Riley, a former Air Force

captain who served in the Gulf War.

 

Some studies have found increased rates of birth defects in children

of soldiers, though results are inconsistent. Of defects that have

been observed, urinary tract abnormalities are the most consistent,

the report said.

 

The report also cited studies linking Gulf War service to a few

diseases, including the rare but fatal nerve disorder ALS, also known

as Lou Gehrig's disease. Some troops also showed evidence of

confusion, memory loss, and headaches, which is consistent with

symptoms of exposure to sarin, a nerve agent used in chemical weapons

that were destroyed by U.S. forces during the war, the findings stated.

 

Experts urged the department to perform follow- up studies on possible

ALS, birth defects, some cancers, and a suspected higher rate of motor

vehicle deaths in Gulf War veterans.

 

" There definitely are some signals there that need to be tracked over

time, " Goldman says.

 

 

SOURCES: Gulf War and Health, Volume 4: Health Effects of Serving in

the Gulf War, Institute of Medicine, Sept. 12, 2006. Shannon

Middleton, assistant director of health policy, American Legion. Lynn

R. Goldman, professor, Johns Hopkins University; chair, IOM panel.

Joyce Riley, spokeswoman, American Gulf War Veterans Association.

 

NVIC E-News is a free service of the National Vaccine Information

Center and is supported through membership donations.

 

NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does

not receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President

and Co- founder.

 

Learn more about vaccines, diseases and how to protect your informed

consent rights at www.nvic.org

NVIC

NVIC

National Vaccine Information Center

email: news

phone: 703-938-dpt3

web: http://www.nvic. org