Cognitive functioning in Gulf War Illness
Author: Lange G, Tiersky LA, Scharer JB, Policastro T, Fiedler N, Morgan TE, Natelson BH
Source:
Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 23(2), 240-249.
A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 48 veterans with
Gulf War Illness (GWI) characterized by severe fatigue (GV-F) and 39 healthy
veterans (GV-H). Subjects were matched on intelligence and did not differ on age,
gender, race, and alcohol consumption. Compared to GVs-H, GVs-F were
significantly impaired on four tasks: three attention, concentration, information
processing tasks and one measure of abstraction and conceptualization. After
considering the presence of post-war Axis I psychopathology, GWI remained a
significant predictor of cognitive performance on one of the attention,
concentration, and information processing tasks and one abstraction and
conceptualization measure. Performance on the remaining two attention,
concentration, and information processing tasks was only significantly predicted
by Axis I psychopathology with post-war onset. The results suggest that Gulf War
Illness is associated with some aspects of cognitive dysfunction in Gulf
Veterans, over and above the contribution of psychopathology.