Kelsall, Helen, Sim, Malcolm, McKenzie, Dean et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2006 · DOI
This study compared fatigue and health problems in Australian military veterans who served in the Gulf War with similar military personnel who did not deploy there. Researchers found that Gulf War veterans reported more fatigue at all severity levels than the comparison group. Importantly, unexplained chronic fatigue (similar to ME/CFS) was more common in veterans, though true ME/CFS remained rare in both groups, at levels similar to the general population.
This study contributes important epidemiological data on ME/CFS prevalence in a well-defined, medically-evaluated population and explores potential environmental or occupational triggers for post-exertional fatigue syndromes. Understanding fatigue patterns in Gulf War veterans may inform hypotheses about ME/CFS etiology and help distinguish between deployment-related fatigue and primary CFS.
This cross-sectional design cannot establish causation—only that fatigue and Gulf War deployment are associated. The study does not prove that Gulf War exposures directly caused ME/CFS, as the 'active-deployment effect' explanation remains speculative and untested. Additionally, reliance on reported exposures rather than objective measurements limits causal inference.
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
Kelsall, Helen, Sim, Malcolm, McKenzie, Dean, Forbes, Andrew, Leder, Karin, Glass, Deborah, et al. (2006). Medically evaluated psychological and physical health of Australian Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue.. Journal of psychosomatic research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2006.04.002
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kelsall-2006-medically-evaluated,
author = {Kelsall, Helen and Sim, Malcolm and McKenzie, Dean and Forbes, Andrew and Leder, Karin and Glass, Deborah and Ikin, Jillian and McFarlane, Alexander},
title = {Medically evaluated psychological and physical health of Australian Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue.},
journal = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1016/j.jpsychores.2006.04.002},
note = {PubMed: 16731232},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kelsall-2006-medically-evaluated},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kelsall-2006-medically-evaluated
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