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
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
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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