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British Gulf War Vets Not Suffering Reproductive Problems |
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WEDNESDAY, March 24 (HealthDayNews) -- British veterans of the first Gulf War are no more likely to have children with chromosomal abnormalities or to experience miscarriages or stillbirth than their comrades who were not deployed to the Gulf, says a study in the March 24 issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The study was conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and funded by the Ministry of Defence. It's the first epidemiological study to examine the reproductive health of British veterans of the first Gulf War.
Researchers analyzed responses from 44,087 questionnaires received via mail.
They found no evidence for a link between a father's service in the first Gulf War and an increased risk of stillbirth or of chromosomal malformations, syndromes, or certain specific malformations in children.
Female veterans had no greater risk of miscarriage than women in the comparison group. But the researchers add that there were too few malformations or stillbirths reported to allow for meaningful analysis.
The study did identify some evidence for an increased risk of malformation of the genital and renal system, and of other nonspecific defects. And it did find a 40 percent increased risk of miscarriage among partners of male Gulf War veterans. But the study authors say that finding needs to be interpreted with caution.
"Although we did find a 40 percent increased risk of miscarriage among pregnancies reported by male Gulf War veterans, this may be the result of underreporting of early miscarriages by the control group, and we cannot at this stage conclude that there is a real link between miscarriage and a father's service in the Gulf War. We are now studying this in more depth," Dr. Pat Doyle, head of the department of epidemiology and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says in a prepared statement.
More information
PBS has more about Gulf War syndrome.
(SOURCE: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, news release, March 24, 2004)
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