News accounts have been saturated the last several weeks with statistics from reports on health problems of Persian Gulf War veterans — thanks in part to Iowa State’s Department of Statistics.

Veterans of the Persian Gulf War are more likely to suffer from health problems than veterans who did not serve in the Persian Gulf, according to the Iowa Persian Gulf Research Project released by the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine.

The study found that out of 3,695 veterans (of whom 1,896 were Gulf vets), the Gulf vets were more likely to report symptoms suggestive of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, bronchitis, asthma, fibromyalgia (pain in the muscles or around the joints), alcohol abuse, anxiety and sexual discomfort.

The study, prompted in part by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, provides the first population-based research to document that Persian Gulf War veterans are reporting more medical and psychiatric ailments than non-Persian Gulf War veterans.

Up until two years ago, the only information on health problems of Gulf vets available was from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ registry.

“This study shows there is a problem among veterans who went to the Persian Gulf,” said Terri Snyders, study coordinator for the University of Iowa. “We set out to determine if the troops coming back from the war were having more problems than their military peers that didn’t serve in the Gulf.”

As a result, University of Iowa officials contacted Andy Williams, survey project manager in ISU’s stat lab, two years ago.

The stat lab helped plan the study’s design, hired interviewers, trained them and monitored interviews. They used between 40 and 45 interviewers from the community, including students, Williams said.

It took about six months to reach the veterans, all of whom were Iowa citizens when they enlisted.

Williams said they called Iowa vets in the state and around the world. Stat lab officials had a good response from the vets even though the average interview took about 70 minutes, he said.

For several years the stat lab has been conducting survey research for the University of Iowa and other institutes, including the Mayo Clinic, the state of Iowa and the national Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Professor David Schwartz of the Department of Internal Medicine at Iowa headed the study. A full report on the findings of the Iowa Persian Gulf Research Project will be published in the Jan. 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

He said the study’s national impact will cause research to focus on the medical conditions mentioned in the study.

Schwartz said the study has been rewarding.

He said he would like to do further research with Gulf vets. “The veterans have done a great job participating in this study, and I’m looking forward to working with them some more.”