Prevalence of chronic fatigue and chemical sensitivities in Gulf Registry Veterans

Move than 68 000 of the 700 000 veterans of the Gulf War have become member s of the Veteran Affairs' Gulf War Registry. In 1995, we undertook a questi onnaire study of the symptoms and medical histories reported by a randomly selected subsample of 1 935 of these veterans to characterize their complai nts. All results reported were based on questionnaire responses without fac e-to-face evaluation or physical examinations. Inasmuch as initial registry symptoms overlapped those of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemica l Sensitivities, we also included standard questions for these syndromes in the questionnaire. A total of 1 161 (60%) individuals responded, and there were no major demographic biases; therefore, 15.7% of registry veterans qu alified for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in accordance with the 1994 Centers fo r Disease Control definition. In addition, 13.1% qualified for multiple che mical sensitivities in accordance with a widely used definition, and 3.3% o f the respondents had both conditions. There were no effects of gender, rac e, branch, duty status (active or reserve), or rank, although Multiple Chem ical Sensitivities was somewhat more prevalent in women and African America ns. The data gleaned in this study suggested that the unexplained symptom s yndromes of Chronic Fatigue and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities may charact erize an appreciable portion of the complaints of those who volunteered for the Veterans Affairs' Gulf War Registry, and further investigation is warr anted.