The longer term health impact of war service

摘要

Post-deployment health effects in returning war veterans have been well described since at least the time of the American Civil War (6). The post-deployment effects in veterans who served in the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War have been extensively studied. One of the main findings from this body of research conducted in several different countries is that self-reported symptom reporting across all body systems is elevated (9, 13), but there has been no increase in mortality nor in other objective adverse physical health indicators. Several factor analyses of symptom reporting data have failed to find patterns consistent with a unique Gulf War Syndrome, as similar factor patterns have been found in the comparison groups (8). The other major finding in Gulf Wai veterans is that they have elevated rates of several psychological disorders, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders and alcohol use disorders (12) and that there is a strong dose response relationship between these effects and Gulf War combat exposure (7).