Among those mentioned most often were exposures to fuel, passive cigarette smoke, an antidote to battlefield chemicals, fumes from tent heaters, oil fire smoke, personal pesticide use, anthrax immunizations, botulism immunization and medication to prevent malaria. The researchers found no apparent association between the specific exposures and the individual symptoms the veterans reported to doctors who examined them through the Department of Defense's Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program. For example, despite their form of exposure, half of the veterans surveyed reported symptoms such as joint pain and fatigue. One-third of the study subjects reported sleep problems and more than a quarter reported skin problems, regardless of type of toxic exposure. Other studies have shown that health complaints or symptoms increase after stressful experiences such as an earthquake or war.
Survivors are likely to suffer sleep disturbance or depression.
Many veterans did not develop problems until long after the end of the war. This fact also led the researchers to conclude that it is unlikely there is a link between exposures during the conflict and the long list of symptoms collectively referred to by some as Gulf War Syndrome. The study found that more than 40 percent of the veterans did not have symptoms until more than a year after they left the Gulf. This latency also argues against any specific toxin causing the symptoms. Other members of the study team were Patricia Koslowe, Ph.D., of the Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, and Michael Roy, M.D., M.P.H., of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.