Table 1.
Demographic and health characteristics of GWI cases and Gulf War veteran controls [n (%)].a
| Characteristic | GWI cases (n = 144) | Controls (n = 160) | p-Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex | 0.80 | |||||
| Male | 133 (92) | 149 (93) | ||||
| Female | 11 (8) | 11 (7) | ||||
| Age at time of study (years) | 0.30 | |||||
| 29–39 | 83 (58) | 106 (66) | ||||
| 40–49 | 41 (28) | 36 (22) | ||||
| ≥ 50 | 20 (14) | 18 (11) | ||||
| Race | 0.01 | |||||
| White | 117 (83) | 148 (94) | ||||
| Black | 19 (13) | 7 (4) | ||||
| Other | 5 (4) | 3 (2) | ||||
| Hispanic ethnicity | 9 (6) | 6 (4) | 0.31 | |||
| Education level | 0.01 | |||||
| < 4-year college degree | 96 (68) | 85 (53) | ||||
| ≥ 4-year college degree | 46 (32) | 75 (47) | ||||
| Veteran-reported history of psychiatric diagnosesb | 13 (9) | 10 (6) | 0.36 | |||
| Health status just before deployment | 0.55 | |||||
| Excellent | 106 (75) | 112 (71) | ||||
| Good | 34 (24) | 45 (28) | ||||
| Fair | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | ||||
| Health status at time of study | < 0.001 | |||||
| Excellent | 3 (2) | 39 (25) | ||||
| Good | 56 (39) | 111 (70) | ||||
| Fair | 66 (46) | 8 (5) | ||||
| Poor | 17 (12) | 0 (0) | ||||
| Regular smoker during deployment | 0.11 | |||||
| Yes | 54 (38) | 47 (29) | ||||
| No | 88 (62) | 113 (71) | ||||
| Regular smoker at time of study | 0.13 | |||||
| Yes | 38 (27) | 31 (19) | ||||
| No | 104 (73) | 129 (81) | ||||
| aTotals are not equal in all strata because of missing values for some variables. bReported physician-diagnosed PTSD, depression, and/or drug/alcohol dependence; veterans hospitalized for these conditions were not included in the study. | ||||||