The impact of post-traumatic stress on quality of life and fatigue in women with Gulf War Illness

Abstract

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic, multi-symptomatic disorder characterized by fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems, insomnia, rashes, and gastrointestinal issues affecting an estimated 30% of the ~ 750,000 returning military Veterans of the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. Female Veterans deployed to combat in this war report medical symptoms, like cognition and respiratory troubles, at twice the rate compared to non-deployed female Veterans of the same era. The heterogeneity of GWI symptom presentation complicates diagnosis as well as the identification of effective treatments. This is exacerbated by the presence of co-morbidities. Defining subgroups of the illness may help alleviate these complications. One clear grouping is along the lines of gender. Our aim is to determine if women with GWI can be further subdivided into distinct subgroups based on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom presentation.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Feb 25, 2022
Source ID
10.1186/s40359-022-00752-5

Entities

People

  • Christian Delucia
  • Esha Sultana
  • Fanny Collado
  • Jeffrey Kibler
  • Mary Ann Fletcher
  • Mary Jeffrey
  • Nancy G. Klimas
  • Nandan Shastry
  • Travis J A Craddock

Organizations

  • Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
  • National Institutes of Health
  • United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.
  • Systems Analysis and Design