Gulf War syndrome takes its toll.

Military personnel who served in the Gulf War have a greater prevalence of self-reported medical and psychiatric conditions than those serving elsewhere in the military during the same time, a study at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, found. Researchers in the Iowa Persian Gulf War Study developed a telephone survey to determine the frequency and type of health complaints reported by veterans serving in the Gulf War region and to compare these rates of illnesses with military personnel serving outside of the Gulf War region.

David A. Schwartz, professor of internal medicine and the group's principal investigator. indicates that, "Compared with non-Persian Gulf War military personnel, Persian Gulf War military personnel reported an 11% higher prevalence of symptoms of cognitive dysfunction; a nine percent higher prevalence of symptoms of fibromyalgia; a six percent higher prevalence of symptoms of depression; a three percent higher prevalence of symptoms of anxiety disorder; a two percent higher prevalence of symptoms of alcohol abuse, bronchitis, and asthma; a one percent rise in chronic fatigue and post-traumatic...