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Table 4 The association between deployment to the Gulf War and chest pain amongst veterans

From: Pain in veterans of the Gulf War of 1991: a systematic review

Study

Period of prevalence estimate

Prevalence GWV

Prevalence NGV

OR (95% CI)

% weight in meta-analysis

Fukuda 1998

Current symptoms

Symptoms for 6 months

15%

13%

7%

5%

2.33 (1.87–2.91)

18.3

Proctor 1998

Symptoms past month

FD 6%

NO 3%

0%

  

Unwin 1999

Symptoms past month

25.3%

Bosnia 13.2%

Era 11.8%

2.53 (2.19–2.93)

27.7

Knoke 2000

Current symptoms

20.2%

10.6%

2.79 (1.61–4.84)

4.5

Cherry 2001

Symptoms past month

Mean score approx 3.7

Mean score approx 2.0

  

Gray 2002

Symptoms past year

16.0%

DEV 6.1%

NDV 5.1%

2.93 (2.54–3.39)

28.0

Simmons 2004

Symptoms since 1990

1.7%

0.8%

2.14 (1.77–2.60)

21.5

Summary OR (95% CI)

2.52 (2.23–2.85)

Heterogeneity χ 2 = 7.4, df = 4, P = 0.115

  1. GWV – Gulf War veterans; NGV – non-Gulf veterans.
  2. OR – odds ratio. Individual study ORs based on published prevalence data and not adjusted for confounders.
  3. Summary OR – weighted average of all individual study ORs, derived from "metan" command in Stata version 9.0 using a random effect model and DerSimonian and Laird method.
  4. Fukuda 1998: data on current symptoms used in meta-analysis.
  5. Proctor 1998: FD – Fort Devens sample, NO – New Orleans sample; data not included in meta-analysis because prevalence in reference group is zero.
  6. Unwin 1999: GWV vs Era controls compared in meta-analysis.
  7. Gray 2002: DEV – deployed elsewhere veterans, NDV – non-deployed veterans; GWV vs DEV compared in meta-analysis.