Gulf War vets' kids have more birth defects

WASHINGTON -- The children of Gulf War veterans are two to three times as likely as those of other vets to have birth defects, suggests a government study based on questionnaires and interviews with the veterans.

Gulf vets reported more miscarriages, too.

The research, published in this month's Annals of Epidemiology, follows other studies that did not find evidence of greater risk of birth defects.

The latest study, conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Johns Hopkins University scientists, surveyed Gulf and non-Gulf veterans from all four service branches. Just under 21,000 active and retired military, reserve and National Guard members answered questionnaires about their health, reproductive outcomes, exposure to risk factors and other issues.

Many of the veterans who did not respond to the questionnaire were interviewed by telephone. About 70 percent of those who were sent questionnaires participated.

"Veterans are very concerned that they have a higher risk of bearing children with birth defects," said Dr. Han Kang, a Veterans Affairs epidemiologist and the lead researcher.

"There are two or three studies that tried to address that concern and did not find any evidence of that," Kang said, "and now we are reporting at least a strong possibility of that happening."

The Pentagon says an estimated 90,000 troops who served in the Gulf War complain of maladies including memory loss, anxiety, fatigue, nausea, balance problems and chronic muscle and joint pain. Some veterans also worry that their war exposure harmed their reproductive health, making them more likely to have babies with serious birth defects.

Millions of dollars have been spent on government studies on the subject. A presidential panel in December concluded that none of the research has validated any specific cause and that more study is needed.

The earlier studies that found no unusual risk of birth problems among Gulf vets were based on reviews of hospital records.