La enfermedad del Golfo Pérsico es todavía un enigma para la medicina militar / The Persian Gulf illness is still an enigma for military medicine

El artículo abarca un conjunto seleccionado por los autores de las publicaciones indexadas, que con respecto a eventos de salud relacionados con los veteranos de la Guerra del Golfo Pérsico permitan recopilar nuevas evidencias para una mejor comprensión de esta condición de salud, que en los momentos actuales se considera dentro de la categoría de múltiples síntomas inexplicados (MUS), conjuntamente con la fatiga crónica y la fibromialgia. Lamentablemente, las relaciones de causalidad entre factores diversos que obran en el complejo mundo patogenético y fisiopatológico que constituye la enfermedad del Golfo aún quedan por establecerse de una forma inequívoca. La evidencia clínica aún carece de un sustento repetible y, a medida que envejecen las diversas cohortes de veteranos que participaron en el evento (18 años), lógicamente se superponen hechos biológicos relacionados con el natural deterioro que impone la edad y con los recursos (fondos) para investigaciones muy costosas, que a los países participantes en esto no les interesa destinar

Present paper embrace a set - selected by the authors - of the indexing publications that regarding the health events related to Persian Gulf War veterans allow to collect new evidences for a better comprehension of this health condition, which in nowadays is considered into the category of multiple unexplained symptoms (MUS) together with the chronic fatigue and the bibromyalgia. Lamentably, the causal relations among different factors functioning in the complex pathogenetic and physiopathologic world that is the Persian Gulf illness must to be established in an unequivocal way. The clinical evidence still is lack of a repetitive support, and insofar as the different group of veterans grew old present in this event (18 years), logically there are superimposed biological facts related to the natural deterioration imposed by age and with resources (funds) used in very expensive researches in which the involved countries are not interested

Dissociative disorders and dissociative symptoms among veterans of the Iraq-Iran war suffering from chronic post-traumatic disorder

To evaluate any dissociative disorders in patients with post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], and find any relationship between dissociation and related variables in these patients. A case controlled study carried out among 130 male patients with PTSD, and 130 matched individuals from the normal population. The study was carried out between January and September 2005, at Beheshti Psychiatric Hospital, Kerman, Iran, Demographic data and history of childhood physical abuse and self-harm in both groups were recorded. The severity of PTSD was measured by Davidson PTSD scale in the study group. Dissociative symptoms were evaluated with the dissociative experience scale [DES]. For evaluating dissociative disorders, the dissociative disorder interview schedule [DDIS] was used. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. The mean age [ +/- SD] of veterans was 41.46 [ +/- 5.09] years, and the mean age of going to the combat area was 29.4 [ +/- 5.015]. The mean duration of involvement in combat was 27.8 [ +/- 23.44] months. The mean DES score in the study group was 26.01 [ +/- 12.31] and was 9.58 [ +/- 7.23] in the control group [F=1.171, p<0.0001]. The mean score [ +/- SD] of Davidson PTSD scale was 54 +/- 96 in the study group. The most prevalent dissociative disorder in the study group was psychogenic amnesia. Many veterans with the impression of chronic PTSD may have an additional diagnosis of dissociative disorders

Depleted uranium: an overview of its properties and health effects

There has been much debate about the use of depleted uranium in the Gulf War and its health effects on United States and European war veterans. However, studies on the impact of this radioactive substance on the residents of the surrounding Gulf region are far from adequate. Depleted uranium introduces large quantities of radioactive material that is hazardous to biological organisms, continues to decay for millennia and is able to travel tens of kilometres in air. If depleted uranium were used in the Gulf War, its impact on the health of people in the area would have been considerable. This review of depleted uranium-its origin, properties, uses and effects on the human environment and health-aims to trigger further research on this subject

Epidemiological Researches on the Health Hazards in Veterans of United States of America / 한국역학회지

The Department of Veterans Affairs(VA) maintains some large automated databases that provide the opportunity for studying long-term health effects of military service. The Beneficiary Identification and Record Locator Subsystem(BIRLS) is an excellent source of vital status information on veterans. The VA Patient Treatment File(PTF) is a computerized hospital discharge abstract system of inpatient records, including patients' demographic data, surgical and procedural transactions, and patient movements and diagnosis. The computerized Agent Orange Registry data include veteran's name, address, some information on military service, and findings at the time of his physical examination. The US conducted 235 atmospheric nuclear tests from 1945 through 1962. Many of the 250,000 test participants were exposed to low levels of radiation. The overall average radiation dose was estimated as 0.6 rem per year. In 1976, a claim relating acute myelocytic leukemia to radiation exposure from nuclear weapon testing received extensive publicity. Several thousand "atomic veterans" have sought medical care and compensation from VA for medical conditions that they believe are related to the nuclear weapon testing. Many WWII veterans have contracted the US VA about health problems that they attribute to their exposure to mustard gas. From 1962 to 1971, 75 million liters of herbicides, including over 41 million liters of the phenoxy herbicide Agent Orange, were sprayed on almost 9% of Vietnam. Many studies have been conducted to determine the association of various cancers with military service in Vietnam. Some diseases have been compensated for Vietnam veterans. Health problems reported following the Gulf War include a wide variety of symptoms similar to those found in acute combat reaction, posttraumatic stress disorder, and chronic fatigue. Health problems associated with war have continued and in some ways intensified. Therefore, The United States developed a plan for establishing a national center for the study of war-related illnesses and post-deployment health issues.

La guerra continua – el síndrome de la guerra del Golfo / War continues – The Gulf War Syndrome

Irak invadió Kuwait el 2 de agosto de 1990. En apoyo a la Resolución 660 de las Naciones Unidas, los Estados Unidos respondieron inmediatamente enviando tropas al Golfo Pérsico en la Operación Escudo del Desierto (Operation Desert Shield). Unos cinco meses después, el 16 de enero de 1991, la Operación Tormenta del Desierto (Operation Desert Storm) comenzó con una guerra aérea en contra de Irak, la cual fue seguida 39 días después por una guerra de cuatro días en tierra. Cuando las hostilidades terminaron, los Estados Unidos tenían 397.000 hombres en el Golfo Pérsico. En contraste con conflictos previos, una proporción más grande de participantes fue de mujeres (7 por ciento del ejercito) y el personal de la Reserva de al Guardia Nacional (17 por ciento del ejército). Particularmente, los preparativos médicos durante la Operación Escudo del Desierto fueron extensivos, pero afortunadamente las bajas de combate estuvieron lejos de las pocas que se habían anticipado. Además, la incidencia de lesiones fuera de batalla y enfermedades fue muy baja en comparación con otras campañas militares debido a los esfuerzos de medicina preventiva, contacto mínimo con la población local y el poco acceso al alcohol.

Sindrome de la guerra del Golfo Pérsico / Syndrome of the Persian Gulf War

Las enfermedades crónicas son padecimientos que van evolucionando progresivamente, quizá hasta la muerte. Ese es el caso de los veteranos de la Guerra del Golfo Pérsica (The Desert Storm), quienes están sufriendo de un Síndrome de desbalance en el sistema inmune, causado o inducido por el servicio militar prestado en esa zona del globo. Políticamente esta enfermedad ha causado gran controversia, pues primero que todo nunca habían considerado la posibilidad de que existiera además de que le puede costar mucho dinero al estado americano y por consiguiente no es deseada por él mismo. Para la ciencia médica, los variados síntomas de esta enfermedad, como lo son las erupciones cutáneas, problemas gastrointestinales, irritabilidad, dolor articular, problemas respiratorios y fatiga crónica, han sido objeto de estudio, pues el problema parece lo suficientemente serio e intrigante como para merecer una investigación médica. Los pacientes mismos han sido los incitadores de dicha investigación, a que ciertamente sea realizada de una manera profunda, presionando al gobierno para que se perpetúe la búsqueda hasta encontrar su etiología y en última instancia la cura del llamado Síndrome de la Guerra del Golfo...

Preliminary study on the effects of the stressful life events [gulf crisis] on a private school population

This study was carried out on 90 children attendants of a private school which accommodated children coming from Kuwait. 43 of them were never had been in Kuwait, 17 children were Kuwaiti living in Kuwait and 30 children were non-Kuwaiti living in Kuwait. They were all tested for the manifestations of depression using the depressive scale [D] for children adopted for the Egyptian children from BDI [Beck Depressive Inventory]. The inventory covers twenty-seven symptoms which are divided into Depressive symptoms gpl, Vegetative symptoms gpII and Behavioral symptoms gpIII. A questionnaire was sent to parents from 2nd to 5th grade, no reference to the Gulf war was mentioned. All children were examined to ensure freedom from any physical illness or handicapness. All samples were treated collectively to see the correlation of depressive score to age and sex of sample as well as the highest depressive manifestations where we found: 1] The highest mean of depressive score was that of the third group [non-Kuwaiti living in Kuwait] but this was insignificant. 2] The mean score of depression was higher in boys of second and third group [i.e. Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti living in Kuwait, it was insignificant]. 3] Their was a negative correlation between the age and depressive score of boys of the studied sample [P < 0.05]. 4] The highest depressive manifestations for all children were found in depressive group [Group l with depressive symptoms], this was highly significant [P<0.001]