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Military deployment to the Gulf War as a risk factor for psychiatric illness among US troops

Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), Piscataway, New Jersey, USA

GOZDE OZAKINCI, PhD

Bute Medical School, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK

WILLIAM HALLMAN, PhD

Department of Human Ecology – Social Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

DANIEL WARTENBERG, PhD

Department of Environmental and Community Medicine, UMDNJ–RWJMS, Piscataway, New Jersey

NOEL T. BREWER, PhD

School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

DRUE H. BARRETT, PhD

National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

HOWARD M. KIPEN, MD, MPH

Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, UMDNJ–RWJMS, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA

Correspondence: Dr Nancy Fiedler, UMDNJ–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 170 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Tel: +1 732 445 0123 extn 625; e-mail: nfiedler{at}eohsi.rutgers.edu

Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background Several studies document an excess of psychiatric symptoms among veterans of the the 1991 Gulf War. However, little is known about the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in those who were deployed to that conflict.

Aims To compare the 12-month prevalence and associated risk factors for DSM Axis I psychiatric diagnoses between random samples of Gulf War-deployed veterans and veterans of the same era not deployed to the Persian Gulf (era veterans).

Method Interview data from 967 Gulf War veterans and 784 era veterans were examined to determine current health status, medical conditions, symptoms and Axis I psychiatric disorders.Logistic regression models evaluated risk factors for psychiatric disorder.

Results Gulf War veterans had a significantly higher prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses, with twice the prevalence of anxiety disorders and depression.Lower rank, female gender and divorced or single marital status were significant independent predictors of psychiatric disorder.

Conclusions Deployment to the Gulf War is associated with a range of mental health outcomes more than 10 years after deployment.

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