Iraqi Gulf War veteran refugees in the U.S.: PTSD and physical symptoms.

Veterans of the Gulf War present various symptoms and maladies. Reports by governmental and private entities have yielded mixed results and have been fraught with criticisms of biased research design. The vast majority of these studies have focused on U.S. veterans, with a much smaller number focusing upon British veterans. Very few have examined Iraqi Gulf War veterans. Our study involves administering a health issues questionnaire to a sample of Iraqi Gulf War veteran refugees in the U.S. Results indicate relationships between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) scores and health outcome measures of chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, functional status, quality of life, and health care utilization in terms of frequency and level of intensity. Implications for further inquiry are presented.