|
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
After years of denying any link between
illness and service in the Persian Gulf war, military officials
said today that veterans of the conflict were nearly
twice as likely as other soldiers to suffer the
fatal neurological illness known as Lou
Gehrig's disease.
The joint announcement by the Defense
and Veterans Affairs Departments was based on the preliminary
findings of a study of more than 2.5 million veterans. Officials
said they would immediately offer disability and survivor
benefits to affected patients and families.
Forty cases
have been identified so far.
The hazards of the modern-day battlefield
are more than bullet wounds and saber cuts. We have to be
conscious of that and act accordingly.
Some scientists said the decision might
be premature because the research had not been subjected to
the analysis of peer review. An epidemiologic analysis, the
study tracks patterns of disease, and does not prove that
gulf war service was the cause of the disorder, formally called
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S.
Veterans' groups, who have long argued
that their members are afflicted by unexplained illnesses
collectively called Gulf War syndrome, were ecstatic. So were
patients' advocates, who said the study might yield important
clues about the cause of the disease.
More than 100,000 American service members
sent to the region in 1990 and 1991 have reported a range
of maladies including fatigue, muscle pain, memory loss and
sleep disorders. But studies have found no definitive links,
although several have suggested that the ailments may stem
from to chemical exposure, stress or prophylactic medicines
given to soldiers.
A.L.S. is extremely rare, and the risk
for soldiers is small. Of nearly 700,000 who fought in the
yearlong gulf conflict, the study identified 40 with A.L.S.
About half have died.
In a comparison group of 1.8 million people who served in
the military at the same time but were not in the region,
67 developed A.L.S.
The study found that among the nearly
700,000 soldiers sent to the gulf from August 1990 to July
1991, the risk of contracting A.L.S was 6.7 per million. Among
the 1.8 million who were not deployed, the risk was 3.5 per
million.
Though the overall risk was twice as high
among those deployed, it was not consistent across the services.
Air Force veterans were 2.7 times more likely to develop A.L.S.
than those not deployed. Army soldiers faced twice the risk.
But Navy and Marine Corps veterans did not show rates of disease
that were statistically higher than those not deployed.
The epidemiologist who led the research,
Dr. Ron Horner, said he and his colleagues drew on military
records, appealed to veterans and patients' groups and made
other efforts to identify veterans who had received diagnoses
of A.L.S. in the 10 years since the war. He said his team
had interviewed veterans with A.L.S. and their doctors and
studied medical records and death certificates of those who
had died.
Pentagon and veterans' officials said
that the Durham study might be the largest of its kind and
that they were confident of the results. "The
risk is elevated, and the risk is statistically significant,"
said Dr. John R. Feussner, chief of research and development
for the Veterans Affairs Department.
The announcement was a startling turnabout
for the military, and it is quite likely to renew focus on
gulf veterans' health problems.
The Pentagon assistant secretary for health
affairs, Dr. William Winkenwerder, described the shift as
a result of "an evolving thought process" about
the risks of combat.
"The science," said Richard
J. Santos, national commander of the American Legion, "is
sound and the evidence is clear - U.S. troops were exposed
to something in the Persian Gulf that accounts for an increased
rate of A.L.S." We applaud the administration for deciding
to award just compensation and benefits immediately."
A.L.S., which causes severe muscle wasting,
is typically fatal in two
to five years. Scientists have identified two genes
connected with the A.L.S., Which came to public attention
when Lou Gehrig of the Yankees contracted it. The inherited
version accounts for 15 percent of all cases. The rest are
classified as sporadic.
The $1.3 million study began in March
2000, and the next step, Dr. Feussner said, is for scientists
to "look to see if there is any cluster or anything these
soldiers have in common that might give us a clue as to what
the cause is."
New York Times
December 11, 2001
| 