A Comparison of Postdeployment Hospitalization Incidence Between Active Duty Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans

Abstract

SUMMARY ProblemAccounts of postdeployment health problems incurred by Gulf War veterans are many and varied.These accounts have reported a wide range of symptomatology, as well as put forth a large number of potential causes of the reported medical problems ObjectiveThe present study seeks to compare the post-conflict hospitalization rates of active duty personnel deployed to the Gulf War with the rates of personnel from similar units returning from the Vietnam Conflict, as well as to examine rate differences among the individual Gulf units. ApproachThe hospitalization incidence of Gulf War and Vietnam veterans was analyzed by contrasting the crude and age-adjusted admission rates for varying troop categories (infantry troops, artillery troops, combat engineers, and service support troops) in the five-year periods immediately following the two engagements. Hospital admissions of the combat veterans groups were also compared by their proportional distributions of disease categories. ResultsThere were no significant differences in hospitalization rates among the infantry, artillery, engineering, and service support units deployed to the Gulf War. Further, overall, and in four of the five postdeployment years, the aggregated Gulf War veterans exhibited lower hospitalization rates when compared with their Vietnam counterparts. In comparing hospital admission categories, differences existed between the Vietnam veterans and Gulf War veterans only in their proportions of'Infective and Parasitic' diseases, 'Genitourinary' disorders, and 'MusculoskeletaP disorders. ConclusionThe lack of differences in the hospitalization rates of various Gulf War units in differing locations on the battlefield provides no support to the notion that a specific environmental exposure is responsible for deleterious health effects on Gulf War veterans. That hospitalization rates of returning Gulf War veterans were either lower or comparable to the rates of veterans returning from a previous combat engagement also provides no support to the notion of an environmental exposure above and beyond that which might be associated with the demands of war itself.