Assessing the Potential Health Impact of the 1991 Gulf War on Saudi Arabian National Guard Soldiers in Health Research: A Formula for Success

摘要

There has been considerable publicity that the 1991 Gulf War may have caused a wide array of health problems in military personnel. Although postwar health outcomes have been studied in US, British, Canadian, and other deployed troops, this issue has not been previously evaluated in coalition forces native to the Gulf region. A collaborative team of US and Saudi health researchers was assembled, data sources evaluated, and hospitalizations among Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) soldiers between 1991 and 1999 analyzed. Multivariate modeling was used to evaluate differences between 8342 soldiers exposed to combat at Al Khafji and a comparison group of 7270 soldiers in the Riyadh area. This is the first reported epidemiological investigation of postwar hospitalization among coalition forces native to the Gulf region that participated in the 1991 Gulf War. A very small increase in hospitalizations was identified in SANG soldiers exposed to combat at Al Khafji. However, because of data limitations, the clinical relevance of this finding should be interpreted with caution. Future collaborative studies to better understand the health effects of deployment should be encouraged.