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The authors compared the postwar hospitalization records
of active duty GW veterans and active duty GW-era veterans (up to 1 April
1996) for one or more of 77 diagnoses under the ICD-9 system. The diagnoses
were assembled by the Emerging Infections Program, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and are termed "unexplained illnesses."
Deployed veterans were found to have a slightly higher risk of hospitalization
for unexplained illness than the nondeployed. Most of the excess hospitalizations
for the deployed were due to the diagnosis "illness of unknown cause"
(ICD-9 Code 799.9), and most occurred in participants in the Comprehensive
Clinical Evaluation Program who were admitted for evaluation only. When
the effect of participation in this program was removed, the deployed
had a slightly lower risk than the nondeployed. These findings suggest
that active duty GW veterans did not have excess unexplained illnesses
resulting in hospitalization in the 4.67 year period following deployment.
Limitations: many personnel separated from the service during the period
of follow-up (59.8% of the deployed and 54.3% of the nondeployed); time
and geography-specific exposures could not be examined; and, illnesses
not serious enough to require hospitalization may not have been captured. |
