Table 1.

Descriptive Characteristics of Gulf War and Gulf Era Veterans who Participated in the 2003–2005 Follow-Up Survey

	Gulf War (n=6,111)		Gulf Era (n=3,859)
	N	Percent	N	Percent
Sex*
Male	4,886	79.9	3,008	78.0
Female	1,225	20.1	851	22.0
Age (mean age in years in 2005)	6,102	45.5	3,857	47.6
Race/ethnicity
White	4,654	76.3	3,131	81.3
Black	1,011	16.6	496	12.9
Hispanic	266	4.4	129	3.4
Other	171	2.8	97	2.5
Branch of service
Air Force	745	12.2	534	13.8
Army	3,938	64.4	2,480	64.3
Marines	642	10.5	360	9.3
Navy	786	12.9	483	12.5
Unit component
Active duty	2,180	35.7	1,538	39.9
National Guard	1,774	29.0	1,037	26.9
Reserve	2,157	35.3	1,282	33.2
Rank
Enlisted	5,151	84.3	2,943	76.3
Officer/Warrant Officer	960	15.7	914	22.7
Education
<High school	76	1.3	46	1.2
High school, GED, or equivalent	1,148	19.0	538	14.2
Some college, no degree	2,021	33.5	1,062	28
Associate degree	803	13.3	515	13.5
Bachelor’s degree	1,205	20.0	897	23.6
Master’s, Ph.D., professional degree	778	12.9	739	19.5
Income
<$20,000	558	9.5	243	6.5
$20,000–$34,999	974	16.5	535	14.3
$35,000–$49,999	1,271	21.5	707	18.9
$50,000–$74,999	1,578	26.7	978	26.1
$75,000–$99,999	783	13.3	578	15.4
≥$100,000	739	12.5	705	18.8
Body mass index
< 18.5	42	0.7	30	0.8
18.5 to ≤24.9	1,366	22.9	841	22.3
25 to ≤29.9	2,786	46.8	1,837	48.7
≥ 30	1762	29.6	1,066	28.3

^*Quality of gender variable, as reported in DMDC datafile, showed that among n=9,970 participants, n=15 were miskeyed.

The revised values for “sex” are adopted in Table 1 and in multivariate analyses in this manuscript.