@article {Maulee016086, author = {Alexis L Maule and Patricia A Janulewicz and Kimberly A Sullivan and Maxine H Krengel and Megan K Yee and Michael McClean and Roberta F White}, title = {Meta-analysis of self-reported health symptoms in 1990{\textendash}1991 Gulf War and Gulf War-era veterans}, volume = {8}, number = {2}, elocation-id = {e016086}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016086}, publisher = {British Medical Journal Publishing Group}, abstract = {Objectives Across diverse groups of Gulf War (GW) veterans, reports of musculoskeletal pain, cognitive dysfunction, unexplained fatigue, chronic diarrhoea, rashes and respiratory problems are common. GW illness is a condition resulting from GW service in veterans who report a combination of these symptoms. This study integrated the GW literature using meta-analytical methods to characterise the most frequently reported symptoms occurring among veterans who deployed to the 1990{\textendash}1991 GW and to better understand the magnitude of ill health among GW-deployed veterans compared with non-deployed GW-era veterans.Design Meta-analysis.Methods Literature databases were searched for peer-reviewed studies published from January 1990 to May 2017 reporting health symptom frequencies in GW-deployed veterans and GW-era control veterans. Self-reported health symptom data were extracted from 21 published studies. A binomial-normal meta-analytical model was used to determine pooled prevalence of individual symptoms in GW-deployed veterans and GW-era control veterans and to calculate combined ORs of health symptoms comparing GW-deployed veterans and GW-era control veterans.Results GW-deployed veterans had higher odds of reporting all 56 analysed symptoms compared with GW-era controls. Odds of reporting irritability (OR 3.21, 95\% CI 2.28 to 4.52), feeling detached (OR 3.59, 95\% CI 1.83 to 7.03), muscle weakness (OR 3.19, 95\% CI 2.73 to 3.74), diarrhoea (OR 3.24, 95\% CI 2.51 to 4.17) and rash (OR 3.18, 95\% CI 2.47 to 4.09) were more than three times higher among GW-deployed veterans compared with GW-era controls.Conclusions The higher odds of reporting mood-cognition, fatigue, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal and dermatological symptoms among GW-deployed veterans compared with GW-era controls indicates these symptoms are important when assessing GW veteran health status.}, issn = {2044-6055}, URL = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/2/e016086}, eprint = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/2/e016086.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Open} }