Table 5.
The association between deployment to the Gulf War and back pain amongst veterans.
| Study | Period of prevalence estimate | Prevalence GWV | Prevalence NGV | OR (95% CI) | % weight in meta-analysis |
| Doebbeling 2000 | Symptoms past 12 months | 37% | 16% | 2.25 (1.92–2.64) | 23.0 |
| Goss Gilroy 1998 | Time period unclear | Age 20–44 yrs 20.2% Age 45–64 yrs 25.6% |
Age 20–44 yrs 15.3% Age 45–64 yrs 19.9% |
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| Proctor 2001 | Symptoms past month | 21.4% | 21.7% | 0.97 (0.43–2.18) | 7.0 |
| Kang 2000 | Time period unclear | 44% | 30% | 1.83 (1.73–1.94) | 25.0 |
| Knoke 2000 | Current symptoms | 50.9% | 40.4% | 1.53 (1.23–1.90) | 21.4 |
| Kelsall 2004 | Symptoms past month | 52% | 49% | 1.14 (0.99–1.32) | 23.5 |
| Summary OR (95% CI) |
1.58 (1.23–2.04) Heterogeneity χ2 = 49.8, df = 4, P < 0.001 |
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GWV – Gulf War veterans; NGV – non-Gulf veterans.
OR – odds ratio. Individual study ORs based on published prevalence data and not adjusted for confounders.
Summary OR – weighted average of all individual study ORs, derived from "metan" command in Stata version 9.0 using a random effect model and DerSimonian and Laird method.