Gulf War Illnesses: Improved Monitoring of Clinical Progress and Reexamination of Research Emphasis Are Needed.
Abstract
Many of the approximately 700,000 veterans of the Persian Gulf War have complained of illnesses since the war's end in 1991. Some fear they are suffering from chronic disabling conditions because of wartime exposures to one or more agents with known or suspected health effects. This report responds to the mandate of the fiscal year 1997 defense authorization act that we analyze the effectiveness of the government's clinical care and medical research programs relating to illnesses that members of the armed forces might have contracted as a result of their service in the Gulf War. Specifically, we evaluated (1) the Department of Defense's (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) efforts to assess the quality of treatment and diagnostic services provided to Gulf War veterans and their provisions for follow-up of initial examinations, (2) the government's research strategy to study the veterans' illnesses and the methodological problems posed in its studies, and (3) the consistency of key official conclusions with available data on the causes of veterans' illnesses.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 23, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA327366
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office