Abstract
The majority of studies to examine the levels of physical symptoms after Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) deployment have found that veterans experience high levels of physical symptoms after deployment. What is not known is whether the physical symptoms experienced by OEF/OIF veterans meet criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), as was seen after Operation Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm. This determination would require a medical evaluation to rule out medical conditions that may explain the symptoms. Further, it is not well known if the physical symptoms experienced by OEF/OIF veterans are causing significant functional impairment. We compared OEF/OIF veterans with CFS to Desert Shield/Storm veterans with CFS seen at a postdeployment Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic soon after their respective deployments. We found 17.6% of OEF/OIF veterans met criteria for CFS. Compared to Desert Shield/ Desert Storm veterans with CFS, the OEF/OIF veterans with CFS demonstrated poorer mental health function and similar physical health function.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 299-306 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Military Behavioral Health |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Gulf War illness
- Iraq
- PTSD
- Quality of life
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- function
- mental health
- military
- physical symptoms
- post-traumatic stress disorder
- veterans