Occurrence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis among Gulf War veterans
- 23 September 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Neurology
- Vol. 61 (6), 742-749
- https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000069922.32557.ca
Abstract
Background: In response to Gulf War veterans’ concerns of high rates of ALS, this investigation sought to determine if Gulf War veterans have an elevated rate of ALS. Methods: A nationwide epidemiologic case ascertainment study design was used to ascertain all occurrences of ALS for the 10-year period since August 1990 among active duty military and mobilized Reserves, including National Guard, who served during the Gulf War (August 2, 1990, through July 31, 1991). The diagnosis of ALS was confirmed by medical record review. Risk was assessed by the age-adjusted, average, annual 10-year cumulative incidence rate. Results: Among approximately 2.5 million eligible military personnel, 107 confirmed cases of ALS were identified for an overall occurrence of 0.43 per 100,000 persons per year. A significant elevated risk of ALS occurred among all deployed personnel (RR = 1.92; 95% CL = 1.29, 2.84), deployed active duty military (RR = 2.15, 95% CL = 1.38, 3.36), deployed Air Force (RR = 2.68, 95% CL = 1.24, 5.78), and deployed Army (RR = 2.04; 95% CL = 1.10, 3.77) personnel. Elevated, but nonsignificant, risks were observed for deployed Reserves and National Guard (RR = 2.50; 95% CL = 0.88, 7.07), deployed Navy (RR = 1.48, 95% CL = 0.62, 3.57), and deployed Marine Corps (RR = 1.13; 95% CL = 0.27, 4.79) personnel. Overall, the attributable risk associated with deployment was 18% (95% CL = 4.9%, 29.4%). Conclusions: Military personnel who were deployed to the Gulf Region during the Gulf War period experienced a greater post-war risk of ALS than those who were deployed to the Gulf.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mortality among US Veterans of the Persian Gulf War: 7-Year Follow-upAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 2001
- Regression Modeling StrategiesSpringer Series in Statistics, 2001
- Estimation of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis incidence by capture-recapture method in the Limousin region of FranceJournal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2000
- Is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Fibromyalgia Associated with Persian Gulf War Service? An Examination of Department of Defense Hospitalization DataAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 2000
- Strategies to Assess Validity of Self-Reported Exposures during the Persian Gulf WarEnvironmental Research, 1999
- Mortality among U.S. Veterans of the Persian Gulf WarNew England Journal of Medicine, 1996
- A longitudinal of Parkinson's disease: clinical and neuropsychological correlates of dementiaJournal of Clinical Neuroscience, 1996
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Heterogeneous Susceptibility, Trauma, and EpidemiologyArchives of Neurology, 1996
- El escorial World Federation of Neurology criteria for the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosisJournal of the Neurological Sciences, 1994
- Follow-Up Study on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Rochester, Minn., 1925 through 1984Neuroepidemiology, 1986