Danish Gulf War Veterans Revisited: No Evidence of Increased Sickness Absence or Reduced Labor Market Outcome After Deployment to the Persian Gulf

OBJECTIVE: To examine the assumption that postdeployment incidence of sickness and other absence from work are higher among Gulf War Veterans compared with nonveterans.

METHODS: A prospective registry study including a cohort of 721 Danish Gulf War Veterans and a control cohort of 3,629 nonveterans selected from the general Danish population. Outcome measures were up to 23 years postdeployment incidence of (1) long-term sickness absence and (2) long-term all types of absence from work. Long term with regard to sickness and other absence was defined as exceeding 8 weeks. The association between outcomes and information on deployment history was studied using time-to-event analysis. The index date was the return date from the last deployment to the Gulf. The follow-up period was the time from index date until April 27, 2014.

RESULTS: As the main finding, no difference was found between veterans and nonveterans in the incidence rate of long-term sickness absence. After an initial short period (3 months) with elevated incidence rate of long-term absence from work among veterans, there was no difference between the cohorts.

CONCLUSION: Among Danish Gulf War Veterans, no postdeployment increased risk of long-term sickness absence or long-term absence from work was found as compared with nonveterans.