Longitudinal examination of multiple symptom reporting in Australian veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War

After the 1990-1991 Gulf War, returning veterans complained of unexplainable multiple symptoms. This thesis examined how symptom reporting changed over time in Australian Gulf War veterans as well as its effect on health service use. The research indicated that symptom reporting increased over time and high symptom reporting was associated with increased chronic disease incidence in the longer-term. health service use by veterans reporting many symptoms (but without chronic diseases) was similar to that of veterans with existing chronic diseases. Therefore, over the 20-years post-war, high unexplained symptom reporting presents a sizeable health burden on veterans and the health system.