List of Tables
Table 1 Demographic characteristics for the male members of the cohort ................................. 9
Table 2 Mortality rates for the Gulf War veterans and comparison group relative to the
Australian male population ........................................................................................10
Table 3 Mortality rates for the Gulf War veterans relative to the comparison group ...................10
Table 4 Cancer incidence rates for the Gulf War veterans and comparison group relative to the
Australian male population ........................................................................................11
Table 5 Cancer incidence rates for the Gulf War veterans relative to the comparison group .....12
Table 6 Distribution of Gulf War veteran participants at baseline and at follow up by deployment
................................................................................................................................41
Table 7 Number of times exposures of interest noted in Ships’ Logs ........................................63
Table 8 Number of times exposures of interest noted in Reports of Proceedings ......................63
Table 9 Summary of environmental exposures reported in the Ships’ Medical Journals............64
Table 10 Summary of health outcome and health service use reported in the Ships’ Medical
Journals ....................................................................................................................65
Table 11 Summary of reporting of vaccinations in the Ships’ Medical Journals .........................67
Table 12 Summary of reporting of preventive medication in the Ships' Medical Journals ..........68
Table 13 Health outcomes and environmental, chemical and medical exposure metrics based
on Ship and other deployment groups.......................................................................72
Table 14 Recruitment outcomes for the Gulf War veterans and comparison group at follow up 74
Table 15 Comparison of participants with non-participants in the follow up study .....................77
Table 16 Characteristics for male participants at follow up ........................................................80
Table 17 ADF service characteristics for male participants at follow up ....................................81
Table 18 ADF Operations participants have deployed on for at least one month since Jan 1991
.................................................................................................................................81
Table 19 SF12 Physical and Mental Component Summary scores at follow up ........................84
Table 20 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and SF12 Physical
Component Summary sores at follow up in Gulf War veterans..................................85
Table 21 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and SF12 Mental
Component Summary sores at follow up in Gulf War veterans..................................85
Table 22 SF12 Physical and Mental Component Summary mean scores at baseline and follow
up for participants who completed the SF12 at both time points................................86
Table 23 Prevalence of past-month symptoms at follow up.......................................................88
Table 24 Mean number of past-month symptoms endorsed at baseline and follow up ..............90
Table 25 Change in symptom prevalence between baseline and follow-up by study group.......92
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Table 26 Percentage of participants who reported a symptom at baseline which was persistent
(repeated) at follow up, for the 20 most prevalent symptoms among Gulf War
veterans ....................................................................................................................94
Table 27 Percentage of participants who did not report a symptom at baseline which was
incident at follow up, for the 20 most prevalent symptoms among Gulf War veterans
.................................................................................................................................95
Table 28 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and multisymptom illness at
follow up in male Gulf War veterans ..........................................................................98
Table 29 Prevalence of multisymptom illness at baseline and follow up ....................................98
Table 30 Persistent, remitted and incident cases of multisymptom illness among participants
assessed at baseline and follow up ...........................................................................99
Table 31 Symptoms with low prevalence (<4%) in at least one dataset, excluded from
exploratory factor analysis ......................................................................................100
Table 32 Factor loadings by study group based on follow-up symptom reporting....................102
Table 33 Comparisons of factors using Tucker’s Congruence Coefficient ...............................105
Table 34 Number and type of neuropathic symptoms at follow up ..........................................108
Table 35 Association between Gulf War deployment characteristics and average number of
neuropathic symptoms at follow up in Gulf War veterans ........................................109
Table 36 Prevalence and Risk Ratios for fatigue, prolonged fatigue and chronic fatigue at follow
up............................................................................................................................112
Table 37 Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFQ) fatigue scores and caseness by study group .............112
Table 38 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and chronic fatigue at follow
up in male Gulf War veterans ..................................................................................113
Table 39 Prevalence of prolonged fatigue and chronic fatigue at baseline and follow up ........113
Table 40 Persistent, remitted and incident cases of chronic fatigue among participants at
baseline and follow up.............................................................................................114
Table 41 Sleeping pattern in the two weeks prior to follow up .................................................116
Table 42 Chronic Pain Grade at follow up ...............................................................................119
Table 43 Number of body areas of pain or tenderness in the seven days prior to follow up ....121
Table 44 Self-reported respiratory symptoms and medical conditions at follow up ..................124
Table 45 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and Rome III IBS at follow
up in male Gulf War veterans ..................................................................................127
Table 46 Difficulty fathering a pregnancy and treatment for infertility since January 1992 .......129
Table 47 Outcome of pregnancies fathered since 1992 ..........................................................130
Table 48 Live birth outcomes since 1992 ................................................................................130
Table 49 Activities and outcomes associated with participant’s two most recent injuries .........134
Table 50 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and 12 month major
depression at follow up in Gulf War veterans ..........................................................142
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Table 51 Prevalence of 12 month major depression at baseline and follow up for participants
who completed the CIDI at both time points ............................................................142
Table 52 Persistent, remitted and incident cases of 12 month major depression among
participants who completed the CIDI at baseline and follow up ...............................143
Table 53 PCL total and subscale mean scores in male Gulf War veterans and comparison group
members at follow up ..............................................................................................146
Table 54 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and 12 month PTSD at
follow up in male Gulf War veterans ........................................................................147
Table 55 Prevalence of 12 month PTSD at baseline and follow up for male participants who
completed the CIDI at both time points ...................................................................147
Table 56 Persistent and new incident cases of 12 month PTSD among male Gulf War veterans
and comparison group members who completed the CIDI at baseline and follow up
...............................................................................................................................148
Table 57 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and 12 month alcohol
disorders at follow up in Gulf War veterans .............................................................151
Table 58 Prevalence of 12 month alcohol disorders at baseline and follow up for male
participants who completed the CIDI at both time points .........................................152
Table 59 Persistent and incident cases of 12 month Alcohol disorders among Gulf War veterans
and comparison group members who completed the CIDI at baseline and follow up
...............................................................................................................................153
Table 60 CIDI-defined 12-month disorders, other than major depression, PTSD and alcohol
disorder, for Gulf War veterans and comparison group participants at follow up .....154
Table 61 Association between Gulf War-deployment characteristics and GHQ-12 caseness at
follow up in Gulf War veterans ................................................................................157
Table 62 Demoralization Scale median scores at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles 158
Table 63 Demoralization Scale median total score and subscale scores at follow up..............159
Table 64 EVAR-B mean total score and mean factor scores for participants at follow up ........161
Table 65 Medical problems or conditions which participants reported to be doctor-diagnosed or
treated since January 2001 .....................................................................................163
Table 66 Events which happened because of a shortage of money ........................................166
Table 67 Participants convicted of a crime in a court of law ....................................................167
Table 68 Potentially traumatic events since January 2001 ......................................................167
Table 69 Health risk factors at follow up..................................................................................169
Table 70 Health risk factors at baseline and follow up for participants who were assessed at
both time points.......................................................................................................172
Table 71 MOS Social Support scores by study group .............................................................173
Table 72 Description of linked DVA datasets ..........................................................................181
Table 73 Proportion of consenting participants with records in the linked DVA datasets .........183
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Table 74 Proportion of consenting participants with records in the linked Medicare datasets ..183
Table 75 Self-reported health professional consultations in the 12 months prior to follow up ..184
Table 76 General Practitioner consultations since 2001 as recorded on MBS.........................185
Table 77 DVA- and Medicare-MBS data on specialist consultations since 2001 .....................186
Table 78 Self-reported hospital service utilisation in the 12 months prior to follow up .............187
Table 79 DVA data on number of hospitalisations and length of stay since January 2007 ......188
Table 80 Principal diagnosis in participants who were hospitalised as recorded by DVA ........189
Table 81 Pharmaceuticals dispensed based on PBS and RPBS.............................................189
Table 82 Summary of disability claims from 1 January 2001 to 15 August 2012 .....................190
Table 83 Number of accepted disability claims, and legislation type, for participants who
consented to DVA-data linkage ...............................................................................191
Table 84 Proportion of participants who had at least one successful claim under each of the
broad SOP categories (VEA and MRCA claims only) ..............................................192
Table 85 DVA Treatment Card history for participants for the period 1 Jan 2001 to 15 Aug 2012
...............................................................................................................................193
Table 86 Description of participants with at least one of MSI, chronic fatigue, or CIDI-defined 12month major depression, PTSD or alcohol use disorder at baseline........................196
Table 87 Health outcomes at follow up amongst participants with, and without, any of MSI,
chronic fatigue, 12-month major depression, PTSD or alcohol use disorder at baseline
...............................................................................................................................198
Table 88 DVA Disability claims data for participants with, and without, any of MSI, chronic
fatigue, 12 month major depression, PTSD or alcohol disorder at baseline .............199
Table 89 Health service use amongst participants with, and without, any of MSI, chronic fatigue,
12 month major depression, PTSD or alcohol disorder at baseline .........................200
Table 90 Association between use of PB during the Gulf War and health outcomes at follow up
in Gulf War veterans ...............................................................................................205
Table 91 Association between vaccinations for the Gulf War deployment and health outcomes
at follow up in Gulf War veterans ............................................................................206
Table 92 Association between anti-malarial tablets taken during the Gulf War deployment and
health outcomes at follow up in Gulf War veterans..................................................207
Table 93 Association between exposure to pesticides during the Gulf War and health outcomes
at follow up in Gulf War veterans ............................................................................207
Table 94 Association between intense smoke exposure during the Gulf War and health
outcomes at follow up in Gulf War veterans ............................................................208
Table 95 Association between SMOIL exposure during the Gulf War and health outcomes at
follow up in Gulf War veterans ................................................................................208
Table 96 Association between exposure to oil in water during the Gulf War and health outcomes
at follow up in Gulf War veterans ............................................................................208
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Table 97 Association between dust exposure during the Gulf War and health outcomes at follow
up in Gulf War veterans ..........................................................................................209
Table 98 Association between possible exposure to gastroenteritis outbreaks during the Gulf
War and health outcomes at follow up in Gulf War veterans ...................................210
Table 99 Association between Gulf War deployment era and MSEQ score with health outcomes
at follow up in Gulf War veterans ............................................................................211
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