{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,12]],"date-time":"2026-10-12T14:19:59Z","timestamp":1791814799225,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,26]],"date-time":"2021-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1629936000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000090","name":"Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["W81XWH-13-2-0072"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["W81XWH-13-2-0072"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000090","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Boston University-based Gulf War Illness Consortium (GWIC) is a multidisciplinary initiative developed to provide detailed understanding of brain and immune alterations that underlie Gulf War illness (GWI), the persistent multisymptom disorder associated with military service in the 1990\u20131991 Gulf War. The core GWIC case-control clinical study conducted in-depth brain and immune evaluation of 269 Gulf War veterans (223 GWI cases, 46 controls) at three U.S. sites that included clinical assessments, brain imaging, neuropsychological testing, and analyses of a broad range of immune and immunogenetic parameters. GWI cases were similar to controls on most demographic, military, and deployment characteristics although on average were two years younger, with a higher proportion of enlisted personnel vs. officers. Results of physical evaluation and routine clinical lab tests were largely normal, with few differences between GWI cases and healthy controls. However, veterans with GWI scored significantly worse than controls on standardized assessments of general health, pain, fatigue, and sleep quality and had higher rates of diagnosed conditions that included hypertension, respiratory and sinus conditions, gastrointestinal conditions, and current or lifetime depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Among multiple deployment experiences\/exposures reported by veterans, multivariable logistic regression identified just two significant GWI risk factors: extended use of skin pesticides in theater (adjusted OR = 3.25, p = 0.005) and experiencing mild traumatic brain injury during deployment (OR = 7.39, p = 0.009). Gulf War experiences associated with intense stress or trauma (e.g., participation in ground combat) were not associated with GWI. Data and samples from the GWIC project are now stored in a repository for use by GWI researchers. Future reports will present detailed findings on brain structure and function, immune function, and association of neuroimmune measures with characteristics of GWI and Gulf War service.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci11091132","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,26]],"date-time":"2021-08-26T09:27:57Z","timestamp":1629970077000},"page":"1132","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Brain\u2013Immune Interactions as the Basis of Gulf War Illness: Clinical Assessment and Deployment Profile of 1990\u20131991 Gulf War Veterans in the Gulf War Illness Consortium (GWIC) Multisite Case-Control Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Lea","family":"Steele","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Veterans Health Research Program, Beth K. and Stuart C. Yudofsky Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nancy","family":"Klimas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Neuroimmune Medicine, Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314, USA"},{"name":"Department of Veterans Affairs, Miami VA Healthcare System, Miami, FL 33125, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maxine","family":"Krengel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emily","family":"Quinn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rosemary","family":"Toomey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University College of Arts and Sciences, Boston, MA 02215, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Deborah","family":"Little","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Abreu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Neuroimmune Medicine, Dr. Kiran C. 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