Additionally, analysis of classified and declassified operational, intelligence, medical sources of information, research databases, as well as anecdotal accounts of veterans will be correlated with findings of the CCEP and GIS to determine exposure relationships throughout the Persian Gulf theater of operations. As shown in Figure 3, four of the most common symptoms reported by participants in the CCEP are also prevalent in the U.S. population as a whole and among patients in general medical practice. Three published surveys of outpatient practices are informative. Because the characteristics of the study groups and duration vary, exact comparisons of symptoms and illnesses can not be made among the three studies. There appears, however, to be strong consistency of reported symptoms between large population studies of outpatient medical clinics and symptoms reported by CCEP participants.
Patients commonly report experiencing multiple symptoms.
Moreover, the overlap of specific symptoms can be considerable. For example, Table 7 compares the frequency of various symptoms seen in CCEP patients and three other common symptom syndromes. The best estimate is that about one-third of symptoms cannot be linked to a defined diagnosis. Comprehensive medical evaluations by CDC physicians and a review of medical records for fifty-nine Persian Gulf War veterans in the initial case series did not identify any consistent physical or laboratory abnormalities. Existence of a Unique Illness DoD physicians have diagnosed a wide range of medical conditions commonly seen in general medical practice, but have found no clinical evidence for a unique illness among CCEP participants.