The National Survey Research Team
Veterans Health Administration
The National Health Survey of Gulf War Era Veterans and
Their Families is divided into three phases. In Phase I, a health questionnaire
was mailed to a population based sample of 15,000 Gulf veterans and 15,000
era veteran controls to obtain information on their exposures, presence
of various symptoms, medical and psychological conditions, hospitalizations,
and reproductive health. After three follow-up mailings, 15,825 veterans
responded. In Phase II telephone interviews were attempted on the 14,175
non-respondents using the same questionnaire as mailed in Phase I, with
the addition of a question on reasons for refusal. Efforts to obtain the
telephone interview were successful in 5,116 veterans and controls increasing
the overall response rate to 70%. Phase I and II data will be compared
to assess possible bias due to non-response. In Phase III, a sample of
2,000 veterans who participated in the Phase I and II survey and their
family members will be invited to participate in a comprehensive clinical
evaluation at one of 17 VAMCs across the nation. The clinical evaluation
will focus on neurologic and cognitive dysfunction, chronic fatigue syndrome,
fibromyalgia, PTSD, general health, arthritis, hypertension, asthma, bronchitis,
and birth defects among children.
The prevalence of symptoms and other medical and psychological
conditions for the entire Gulf veteran population will be obtained from
weighted estimates of individual military strata values from the sample.
Use will be made of SUDAAN, a single program consisting of a family of
procedures used to analyze data from complex surveys. This survey is complex
in that the sampling design was stratified random sampling with unequal
probabilities of selection in the various strata (gender, branch of service,
unit status, active duty, reserve, national guard, activated, not activated).
This survey will produce important new data related to the health consequences
of military service during the Gulf war.
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