Table 2.
Associations of Gulf War Illness Phenotypes with 1990–1991 Gulf War Deployment Status.
| Association with Deployment | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measure | All (N = 35,902) % |
Deployed (n = 13,107) % |
Not Deployed (n = 22,795) % |
OR | (95% CI) | aOR 1 | (95% CI) |
| Panel A. GWI Case Status-Related Measures | |||||||
| Kansas Symptoms (Sym+) | 67.1 | 77.9 | 60.9 | 2.44 | (2.31, 2.57) | 2.15 | (2.03, 2.27) |
| Kansas GWI (met symptoms; no exclusionary conditions [Sym+/Dx−]) | 21.5 | 24.8 | 19.5 | 1.38 | (1.31, 1.45) | 1.25 | (1.18, 1.32) |
| CDC GWI | 81.1 | 87.9 | 77.1 | 2.19 | (2.06, 2.33) | 1.99 | (1.86, 2.12) |
| CDC GWI Severe | 18.6 | 27.0 | 13.7 | 2.45 | (2.31, 2.58) | 2.06 | (1.95, 2.19) |
| Panel B. Kansas GWI Components | |||||||
| Symptom Domain | |||||||
| Fatigue/sleep problems (4 symptoms) | 73.9 | 83.4 | 68.4 | 2.37 | (2.24, 2.51) | 2.04 | (1.93, 2.17) |
| Pain (3 symptoms) | 71.5 | 78.4 | 67.5 | 1.81 | (1.72, 1.91) | 1.59 | (1.50, 1.68) |
| Neurologic/Cognitive/Mood (14 symptoms) | 81.9 | 88.8 | 77.9 | 2.30 | (2.14, 2.46) | 2.03 | (1.89, 2.18) |
| Gastrointestinal (3 symptoms) | 30.9 | 41.6 | 24.7 | 2.20 | (2.10, 2.31) | 1.98 | (1.89, 2.08) |
| Respiratory (3 symptoms) | 33.3 | 41.7 | 28.5 | 1.83 | (1.75, 1.92) | 1.74 | (1.65, 1.82) |
| Skin (2 symptoms) | 25.9 | 33.0 | 21.8 | 1.96 | (1.87, 2.06) | 1.88 | (1.78, 1.98) |
| Exclusionary Conditions 2 | 56.8 | 57.4 | 56.5 | 1.08 | (1.03, 1.13) | 1.12 | (1.07, 1.18) |
| Panel C. CDC GWI Components | |||||||
| Symptom Domain | |||||||
| Fatigue (1 symptom) | 60.6 | 72.6 | 53.6 | 2.34 | (2.23, 2.45) | 2.15 | (2.04, 2.26) |
| Musculoskeletal (3 symptoms) | 86.9 | 90.2 | 85.1 | 1.65 | (1.54, 1.77) | 1.53 | (1.42, 1.64) |
| Mood/Cognition (6 symptoms) 3 | 83.4 | 89.4 | 79.9 | 2.14 | (2.00, 2.28) | 1.92 | (1.79, 2.05) |
| Severe Symptom Domain | |||||||
| Fatigue (1 symptom) | 11.2 | 16.7 | 8.0 | 2.33 | (2.18, 2.49) | 2.09 | (1.94, 2.24) |
| Musculoskeletal (3 symptoms) | 25.3 | 32.0 | 21.4 | 1.77 | (1.68, 1.86) | 1.53 | (1.45, 1.61) |
| Mood/Cognition (6 symptoms) 3 | 28.5 | 39.0 | 22.5 | 2.36 | (2.25, 2.48) | 1.98 | (1.87, 2.08) |
CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; VA = Department of Veterans Affairs; CSP = Cooperative Studies Program; OR = Odds Ratio; aOR = Adjusted Odds Ratio; CI = confidence interval. 1 adjusted for age (as a continuous variable in the model with odds ratios calculated for 10-year increase in age), sex, race, ethnicity, education, service branch, rank, and unit component. Statistically significant if 95% confidence interval does not include 1.00. 2 Participants were asked if they were ever told by a doctor or healthcare that they had any of the following exclusionary conditions: cancer (brain, breast, colon, lung, prostate, melanoma, other), diabetes, heart disease (heart attack, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure), stroke (stroke and transient ischemic attack), infection (HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis C), liver disease, lupus, mental health (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), and neurological (multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury (TBI)) conditions. 3 The six symptoms were based on seven items in the VA CSP 2006/MVP 029. Specifically, to reflect the original CDC wording, the highest level of symptom presence/severity from questions regarding “Difficulty remembering recent information” and “Difficulty concentrating” were combined to create one symptom category.