Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Persian Gulf War Health Effects

June 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. OVERVIEW

A. Conclusions
B. Recommendations

II. TERMS OF REFERENCE

III. BACKGROUND

A. Deployment of troops - Operation Desert Shield
B. Stressors of deployment
C. Medical Problems
D. Registry Efforts
1. Characteristics of Deployed Troops
2. Veterans Affairs
3. Department of Defense
E. Czech Announcements

IV. MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS

A. General
B. Unexplained Medical Complaints in Gulf War Participants
What is the Problem

V. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CORRELATIONS

Review of the VA Persian Gulf Registry Data
1. VA Hospital Discharge Data for Persian Gulf War Veterans
2. VA Referral Centers
3. Depleted Uranium (DU) Surveillance Program
4. Birmingham Pilot Program

VI. CHEMICAL/BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

Overview
1. Biological Agents
2. Chemical Agents
3. Evidence for the Presence of Chemical Agents in the Gulf Theater
4. Liquid Chemical Agent Detectors
5. Vapor Chemical Agent Detectors

VII. LONG TERM EFFECTS OF LOW-LEVEL EXPOSURE TO CHEMICAL AGENTS

VIII. PROPOSED EXPOSURE ETIOLOGIES

A. Chemical Warfare Agents
B. Biological Agents
C. Infectious Disease
1. Insect-borne
2. Food Borne
3. Respiratory
D. Environmental Occupational Pollutants
1. Petroleum Products
2. Alcohol Substitutes
3. Insecticides
4. Oil Well Fires
5. Sand
6. CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) Paint
E. Medical Prophylaxis
1. Pyridostogmine Bromide
2. Anthrax Vaccine
3. Botulinus Toxoid Vaccines
F. Depleted Uranium

IX. POST TRAUMATIC STRESS AND SOMATOFORM DISORDERS

A. Psychiatric Morbidity
B. Historical Background
C. Relationship Between War-Related Stress and Health

X. OTHER SYNDROMES

A. Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS)
Relation to Gulf War Participants with Unexplained Illness
B. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
Relation to Gulf War Participants with Unexplained Illness
C. Symptoms in the General Population
D. Other Coalition Forces

NOTES

GLOSSARY

APPENDICES

A. Task Force Meeting Agendas
B. NBC Event Timeline
C. Other Research Efforts
D. Additional VA registry charts
E. Maps of Saudi Arabia, Iraq

TABLES

Table 1
Demographic and Military Characteristics of Participants in Persian Gulf War

Table 2
Historical Casualty Data

Table 3
Distribution of Demographic Characteristics of 7,427 Veterans on the Persian Gulf Registry and of 696,562 participants in the Persian Gulf War

Table 4
Distribution of Military Characteristics of 7,427 Veterans on the Persian Gulf Registry and of 696,562 participants in the Persian Gulf War

Table 5
Ten Most Frequent Complaints Among 7,427 Veterans on the Persian Gulf Registry

Table 6
Percentage Distribution of Diagnosis for 7,427 Veterans on the Persian Gulf Registry by Military Unit Status

Table 7
Percentage Distribution of Selected Diagnoses for 7,427 Veterans on the Persian Gulf Registry by Military Unit Status

Table 8
Percentage Distribution of Diagnoses for 7,427 Veterans on the Persian Gulf Registry by Branch

Table 9
Distribution of Cancer Cases by Site Among 7,427 Veterans on the Persian Gulf Registry

Table 10
Self-Reported Incidence of Birth Defects' Among Veteran's Children

Table 11
Demographic Characteristics of 6,092 Persian Gulf Veterans and 6,265 Era Veterans Treated in VA Hospitals on an Inpatient Basis

Table 12
Distribution of Military Characteristics of 6,092 Persian Gulf Veterans Treated in VA Hospitals on an Inpatient Basis, 696,562 Participants in the Persian Gulf War, and 371,197 Potentially Eligible for VA Medical Care

Table 13
Distribution of 6,092 Persian Gulf Veterans and 6,265 Era Veterans Treated on an Inpatient Basis By Selected Diagnostic Group

Table 14
Distribution of 463 Women Persian Gulf Veterans and 902 Women Era Veterans Treated on an Inpatient Basis By Selected Diagnostic Group

Table 15
Biological Agent Symptoms/Effects

Table 16
Chemical Agent Effects

Table 17
Liquid Chemical Agent Detector Characteristics

Table 18
Vapor Chemical Agent Detector Characteristics

 

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