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Chronic illness common among veterans
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Chronic illness characterized by a complex of multiple symptoms is more common in deployed Gulf War I (1991) veterans than in nondeployed veterans, according to a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
"Veterans with multiple complaints may have chronic multisymptom illness," Dr. Melvin S. Blanchard from St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, St. Louis, told Reuters Health. "It is important to seek co-morbid conditions such as depression, anxiety, metabolic syndrome, and treat them."
Dr. Blanchard and colleagues investigated the prevalence of chronic multisymptom illness and related factors in 2189 veterans who participated in the examination phase of the National Health Survey of Gulf War Era Veterans and Their Families 10 years after the 1991 Gulf War.
The researchers defined chronic multisymptom illness as the presence, for 6 months or longer, of one or more symptoms from at least two of the following clusters: general fatigue, mood and cognitive abnormalities, and musculoskeletal pain.
Nearly 29 percent of deployed veterans and 16 percent of nondeployed veterans experienced chronic multisymptom illness, the investigators report. Seven percent of deployed veterans and 1.6 percent of nondeployed veterans had severe symptoms.
Among deployed veterans, higher levels of combat exposure were associated with chronic multisymptom illness, the results indicate.
Both groups of veterans with chronic multisymptom illness had significantly more clinic visits, and more prescription medication use than did veterans without chronic multisymptom illness, the researchers note.
Chronic multisymptom illness was significantly associated with fibromyalgia syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, joint pain, dyspepsia, and metabolic syndrome, the report indicates.
After adjustment for other risk factors, prewar anxiety disorders and depression were strongly associated with chronic multisymptom illness, regardless of deployment status.
Stress management programs and improvements in lifestyle, such as increased exercise and diet education, may help minimize symptoms, Blanchard added. Also, identifying and treating co-existing psychiatric illnesses "is extremely important."
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, January 1, 2006.