At a glance
ClinicalIndex Comparison Record- ✓Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers deploying to a hazardous deployment from Fort Dix, NJ and Camp Shelby, MS
- ✕Medications that substantially affect cardiovascular function
Standardized by ClinicalIndex from the ClinicalTrials.gov record · verify against the source.
Prospective Study of Functional Status in Veterans at Risk for Unexplained Illnesses
In Brief
An observational study for Combat Disorders. Completed, enrolled 838 participants across 2 sites.
Detailed Summary
Background: Previous deployments like that to the Persian Gulf in 1991 produced veterans with post-deployment symptom-based health problems with no medical explanation. This was termed Gulf War illness or medically unexplained illness (MUI). If previous wars are any indication, some soldiers currently deployed to hostile areas also will return home with unexplained symptom-based illnesses. However, when this study began there was virtually no pre-war, prospective data on risk and resilience factors associated with MUI. This study is attempting to fill that gap. Objectives: Our goals are to: (a) determine pre- and immediate post-deployment factors predicting later MUI and poor functional status, (b) improve previous methodological problems (e.g., selection bias, recall bias and lack of baseline controls) in studies of MUI, and (c) relate pre-deployment risk factors (e.g., personality, stressor reactivity) and resilience factors (e.g., coping style, social support) to post-deployment functional status.