Controlled Epidemiological and Clinical Study into the Effect of Gulf War Service on Servicemen and Women of the United Kingdom Armed Forces

摘要

The epidemiological survey and clinical studies were both completed, satisfying the requirements of the research grant. The first stage, the epidemiological survey was completed in November 1998 and, despite numerous problems associated with tracing the cohort members, achieved an overall response rate of 65.1%. The results of the epidemiological survey were published in January 1 999, with four subsequent publications. The second stage, the clinical study of 400 participants who completed the stage I questionnaire, lasted from December 1998 to September 2000. Of the 742 invited to attend, 343 (51.5%) visited the unit, 13.1% either cancelled or failed to show, with 26.4% refusing to participate. The clinical study consisted of detailed medical, psychological and neuropsychological assessments lasting two days. Relevant biological samples were stored for subsequent immunological analyses, now completed. Detailed neurophysiological assessments were carried out in a sub sample. All these results are currently being analyzed for later publication%' Based on the provisional finding of the second stage that there appears to be a change in the health of the study participants (see table 3) , funding has been obtained from the United Kingdom Medical Research Council for a follow up study of the stage 1 cohort. This will commence in January 2001.