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National Health Survey of Gulf War Era Veterans and Their Families

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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