A Controlled Epidemiological and Clinical Study into the Effect of Gulf War Service on Servicemen and Women of the United Kingdom Armed Forces.
Abstract
This is the second annual progress report of a 3 year epidemiological study into the effects on health of service in the Persian Gulf War for UK servicemen and women%. During the period June 1997 to June 1998, the first stage of the project was carried out, namely the mailing of 12750 questionnaires to the study participants. Extensive efforts have been made to trace the study non responders by obtaining up-to-date current address. This has been done by utilizing the following mechanisms: 1. Regional Health Authorities hold addresses obtained through the participant's contact with their primary physician. In some cases this route was prohibited due to concerns over the personal information confidentiality law (Data Protection Act). 2. The Electoral register, which should record an address for all eligible voters in the UK (over 18 yrs). 3. Forces discharge address. 4. Forces pension department address. 5. Royal British legion data base. 6. Telephone tracing was also carried out when a telephone number was available. Due to the poor overall response rate after the second mailing (52%) it was decided to carry out a third mailing. This is drawing to a close, -at the time of writing the report the overall response rate stands at 60.1% (Gulf: 65.0%; Era: 57.7%; Bosnia 57.6 %). The main problems encountered during the year have been the need to improve the response rate, and concerns over the interpretation of the Data Protection Act which has acted to restrict the availability of address information available to the research team. This is a national problem which is currently under examination at governmental level. Security considerations have also reduced the options available for tracing non responders.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA358105
Entities
People
- Simon Wessely
Organizations
- King's College London