Gulf War illness
| Gulf War illnesses | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
| ICD-9-CM |
V65.5 (inconclusive) also nonstandard "DX111" |
| MeSH | D018923 |
Gulf War syndrome (GWS), also known as Gulf War illnesses (GWI) and chronic multisymptom illness (CMI), is a chronic and multisymptomatic disorder affecting returning military veterans and civilian workers of the 1990–91 Gulf War. A wide range of acute and chronic symptoms have been linked to it, including fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems, rashes and diarrhea. Approximately 250,000 of the 697,000 U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War are afflicted with enduring chronic multi-symptom illness, a condition with serious consequences. From 1995 to 2005, the health of combat veterans worsened in comparison with nondeployed veterans, with the onset of more new chronic diseases, functional impairment, repeated clinic visits and hospitalizations, chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness, posttraumatic stress disorder, and greater persistence of adverse health incidents. According to a report by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan may also suffer from the syndrome.
Suggested causes have included depleted uranium, sarin gas, smoke from burning oil wells, vaccinations, combat stress and psychological factors.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) describes Gulf War syndrome as "Gulf War veterans' medically unexplained illnesses" and refers to it as chronic multisymptom illness (CMI) and undiagnosed illnesses. The VA also explains that it doesn't use the term "Gulf War syndrome" when referring to medically unexplained symptoms reported by Gulf War veterans because the symptoms vary widely.
Medical ailments associated with Gulf War syndrome have been recognized by both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Since so little concrete information was known about this condition the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) originally classified individuals with related ailments believed to be connected to their service in the Persian Gulf a special non-ICD-9 code DX111, as well as ICD-9 code V65.5. There is no formal definition of the term "Gulf War syndrome" or "Gulf War illnesses".
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