Dichotomous factor analysis of symptoms reported by UK and US veterans of the 1991 Gulf War

Population Health Metrics
Rosane NisenbaumWilliam C Reeves

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Factor analysis is one of the most used statistical techniques to analyze the inter-relationships among symptoms reported by Gulf War veterans. The objective of this study was to apply factor analyses to binary symptom data from the UK study of Gulf War illness and the US Air Force study of Gulf War veterans, and to compare the symptom domains derived from the distinct samples. METHODS: UK veterans of the 1991 Gulf War (n = 3,454), individuals deployed to Bosnia on U.N. peacekeeping operations (n = 1,979) and Gulf War-era servicemen (n = 2,577) who were not deployed to the Gulf were surveyed in 1997-1998, and US 1991 Gulf War veterans from four Air Force units (n = 1,163) were surveyed in 1995 to collect health characteristics including symptoms. Each sample was randomly split in half for exploratory and confirmatory dichotomous factor analyses with promax oblique rotation. RESULTS: Four correlated factors were identified in each of the samples. Three factors (Respiratory, Mood-Cognition, Peripheral Nervous) overlapped considerably across the UK cohorts. The Gastrointestinal/Urogenital factor in the UK Gulf cohort was noticeably different from the Gastrointestinal factor identified from the Bosnia and Era cohorts. S...Continue Reading

References

Jun 1, 1984·Journal of Behavioral Medicine·V AttanasioJ G Arena
Sep 1, 1996·Annals of Internal Medicine·K C HyamsR Roswell
Sep 28, 1998·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·K FukudaW C Reeves
Jan 29, 1999·Lancet·C UnwinS Wessely
Jan 29, 1999·Lancet·K IsmailS Wessely
Apr 21, 1999·Lancet·E Ferguson
Sep 1, 2000·American Journal of Epidemiology·J D KnokeA W Hawksworth
Oct 12, 2000·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health·K IsmailS Wessely
Apr 17, 2001·Occupational and Environmental Medicine·N CherryG J Macfarlane
Oct 16, 2001·Occupational and Environmental Medicine·K Ismail
Jun 20, 2002·Archives of Environmental Health·Han K KangPaul H Levine
Nov 29, 2002·Psychological Medicine·B EverittS Wessely
Mar 28, 2003·American Journal of Public Health·William K HallmanDaniel Wartenberg
Apr 17, 2003·American Journal of Epidemiology·Biing-Jiun ShenKenneth D Ward
Dec 11, 2003·Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine·Heather A YoungPaul H Levine

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Software Mentioned

plus
SAS

Related Feeds

Allergy and Asthma

Allergy and asthma are inflammatory disorders that are triggered by the activation of an allergen-specific regulatory t cell. These t cells become activated when allergens are recognized by allergen-presenting cells. Here is the latest research on allergy and asthma.