Ismail, K, Kent, K, Sherwood, R et al. · Psychological medicine · 2008 · DOI
This study looked at whether Gulf War veterans had higher rates of ME/CFS and related conditions compared to other military personnel. Researchers surveyed over 10,000 military personnel and then closely examined disabled Gulf War veterans and similarly disabled veterans who served elsewhere. They found that Gulf War veterans were about 8 times more likely to meet the criteria for ME/CFS than veterans who were not deployed to the Gulf.
This study provides epidemiological evidence that ME/CFS represents a significant health burden specifically in Gulf War veterans, suggesting a potential environmental or occupational exposure link. Understanding disease prevalence in this cohort helps validate ME/CFS as a distinct condition in military populations and may guide targeted clinical and research efforts.
This study does not establish causation or identify specific mechanisms linking Gulf War service to ME/CFS development. The elevated odds ratio in Gulf veterans could reflect selective deployment of healthier individuals to the Gulf, survivor bias, or reporting bias, and the study cannot distinguish between Gulf-specific exposures and general military service factors.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Ismail, K, Kent, K, Sherwood, R, Hull, L, Seed, P, David, A S, et al. (2008). Chronic fatigue syndrome and related disorders in UK veterans of the Gulf War 1990-1991: results from a two-phase cohort study.. Psychological medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291707001560
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-ismail-2008-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Ismail, K and Kent, K and Sherwood, R and Hull, L and Seed, P and David, A S and Wessely, S},
title = {Chronic fatigue syndrome and related disorders in UK veterans of the Gulf War 1990-1991: results from a two-phase cohort study.},
journal = {Psychological medicine},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1017/S0033291707001560},
note = {PubMed: 17892626},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ismail-2008-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ismail-2008-chronic-fatigue
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