5.20
Life Events
The life events which are included in this chapter were measured at follow up only.
5.20.1
Events due to shortage of money
From the list of seven items shown in Table 1, participants selected any events which had
happened to them or to their household because of a shortage of money. One in five Gulf
War veterans, and one in six comparison group participants, reported that at least one of the
events had happened as a result of a shortage of money. This difference between the two
study groups was not statistically significant.
Table 1 Events which happened because of a shortage of money
Event
Could not pay utilities
Could not pay car registration or
insurance on time
Pawned or sold something
Gulf War veterans
Comparison group
N=670
N=649
n (%)
n (%)
99 (14.77)
65 (10.01)
59 (8.80)
52 (8.01)
33 (4.92)
32 (4.93)
Unable to heat home
9 (1.34)
12 (1.85)
Sought financial help from friends
or family
65 (9.70)
41 (6.32)
Went without meals
30 (4.47)
24 (3.69)
Sought assistance from
welfare/community org
15 (2.23)
15 (2.31)
RR
Adj RR (95% CI)
None of above
539 (80.45)
550 (84.75)
1.00
1.00
Any of the above
131 (19.55)
99 (15.25)
1.28
1.16 (0.92-1.47)
5.20.2
Homelessness
Less than ten participants in total reported staying one or more nights in a homeless shelter,
on the street, in a park or in an abandoned building. There was no statistically significant
difference between the two study groups.
5.20.3
Convictions or incarcerations
Table 2 shows the numbers of participants who indicated whether they had ever been
convicted of a crime in a court of law, including civil court, criminal court or military court.
The proportion of Gulf War veterans being convicted of a crime in the period after August
Australian Gulf War Veterans’ Follow Up Health Study: Technical Report 2015
Page 166
1990 was slightly larger than the proportion in the comparison group, and this difference just
met statistical significance. The numbers before August 1990 were similar in the two groups.
Table 2 Participants convicted of a crime in a court of law
Convicted of a
crime
Gulf war veterans
N=705
n (%)
Comparison group
N=669
n (%)
RR
Adj RR (95% CI)
127 (18.01)
93 (13.90)
1.30
1.24 (0.97-1.59)
Before Aug
1990
69 (9.77)
64 (9.54)
1.02
1.08 (0.78-1.51)
After Aug 1990
70 (9.89)
37 (5.51)
1.79
1.50 (1.01-2.20)
Ever
Fewer than five participants in total reported being sent to jail by a judge in a court, or
spending time on remand awaiting a court hearing in the time since the Gulf War. The
statistical difference between the groups was not calculated due to the small numbers.
5.20.4
Potentially traumatic events
Exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTE’s) since January 1991 is shown in Table 3,
ordered by frequency of reporting for Gulf War veterans. For the privacy of participants,
individual PTEs which were reported by less than ten participants in total were grouped
together and included under the heading “other”. More than half of the participants in both
study groups reported at least one of the PTEs listed. The pattern of PTE exposure was
similar between the two groups.
Table 3 Potentially traumatic events since January 2001
Potentially traumatic event
since January 2001
Gulf War
veterans
(N=695)
n (%)
Comparison
group (N=657)
n (%)
RR
Adj RR (95% CI)
126 (18.13)
120 (18.24)
0.99
0.96 (0.77-1.22)
Did someone very close to you die
unexpectedly; for example, they were
killed in an accident, murdered,
committed suicide, or had a fatal heart
attack at a young age?
112 (16.14)
97 (14.72)
1.10
1.10 (0.85-1.41)
Did you serve as a peacekeeper or relief
worker in a war zone or in a place where
there was ongoing terror of people
because of political, ethnic, religious or
other conflicts?
88 (12.68)
81 (12.29)
1.03
1.04 (0.77-1.41)
Were you involved in a major natural
disaster, like a devastating flood,
hurricane or earthquake?
81 (11.67)
68 (10.32)
1.13
1.11 (0.80-1.53)
Were you exposed to a toxic chemical or
substance that could cause you serious
harm?
79 (11.45)
64 (9.80)
1.17
1.07 (0.77-1.49)
Did you have any other life- threatening
accident, including on your job?
65 (9.37)
51 (7.79)
1.20
1.10 (0.77-1.59)
Did you participate in combat, either as a
57 (8.21)
43 (6.54)
1.25
1.37 (0.91-2.05)
Did you see someone being badly injured or
killed, or unexpectedly see a dead body?
Australian Gulf War Veterans’ Follow Up Health Study: Technical Report 2015
Page 167
Potentially traumatic event
since January 2001
Gulf War
veterans
(N=695)
n (%)
Comparison
group (N=657)
n (%)
RR
Adj RR (95% CI)
member of a military, or as a member of
an organised non-military group?
Did you have a life threatening illness?
55 (7.95)
46 (7.00)
1.14
1.14 (0.78-1.69)
Did you have a son or daughter who had a
life threatening illness or injury?
38 (5.47)
37 (5.61)
0.97
1.07 (0.68-1.70)
Were you involved in a life threatening
automobile accident?
32 (4.62)
32 (4.87)
0.95
0.81 (0.50-1.53)
Were you in a man-made disaster, like a fire
started by a cigarette, or a bomb
explosion?
31 (4.47)
24 (3.65)
1.22
0.98 (0.57-1.69)
Were you mugged, held up, or threatened
with a weapon?
28 (4.04)
25 (3.80)
1.06
0.99 (0.56-1.72)
Did you see atrocities or carnage such as
mutilated bodies or mass killings?
28 (4.03)
20 (3.04)
1.32
1.25 (0.70-2.25)
Were you an unarmed civilian in a place
where there was a war, revolution,
military coup or invasion? (By this we
mean a civilian not directly involved in
the armed conflict)
25 (3.60)
19 (2.89)
1.24
1.50 (0.79-2.85)
Did you live as a civilian in a place where
there was ongoing terror of civilians for
political, ethnic, religious or other
reasons?
19 (2.73)
24 (3.64)
0.75
0.89 (0.49-1.59)
Did anyone very close to you have an
extremely traumatic experience, like
being kidnapped, tortured or raped?
14 (2.01)
15 (2.28)
0.88
0.82 (0.39-1.73)
Other
87 (12.25)
70 (10.39
1.18
1.09 (0.81-1.49)
None of the above
285 (40.89)
284 (43.10)
1.00
1.00
Any of the above
412 (59.11)
375 (56.90)
1.04
1.02 (0.93-1.12)
5.20.5
Key findings
Gulf War veterans and comparison group participants were equally likely to have
experienced financial difficulty which had led to events such as the inability to pay utilities,
car registration or insurance on time, or the need to seek financial assistance from friends or
family or welfare organisations. Events such as these were reported by 17% of all
participants. Very small numbers of participants reported homelessness or incarcerations
and there was no difference between the study groups on these measures. Gulf War
veterans were very slightly more likely to have received a criminal conviction in the period
since August 1990, which may be indicative of social dysfunction or maladaptive behaviours
which are related to war deployment or connected to chronic morbidity. More than half of
the participants in both study groups had experienced at least one potentially traumatic
event. The pattern of exposure to potentially traumatic events was similar for the two groups.
Australian Gulf War Veterans’ Follow Up Health Study: Technical Report 2015
Page 168