New Study Links Chemical Alarms to Negative Brain Changes

(91outcomes.com) - Newly released study results suggest that 1991 Gulf War exposures that triggered chemical alarms damaged veterans' brain structure and function.

The study results, published this month in the peer-reviewed Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, looked at 1991 Gulf War veterans' self-reports of hearing chemical alarms going off during the war.  Previous estimates have suggested chemical alarms sounded tens of thousands of times across the Gulf War theater of operations during the six-week war to oust Iraqi military occupying forces from Kuwait.

A pair of studies in 2012 by Dr.'s James Haley and James Tuite provided new evidence that supports that chemical plumes from destroyed Iraqi chemical warfare production and storage facilities drifted down over and exposed large numbers of Gulf War troops to low-levels of sarin, mustard, and other Iraqi chemical warfare agents.

These latest findings were written by cognitive neuroscientist Linda Chao, PhD, who has a long track record of Gulf War-related research and peer-reviewed publication funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

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SOURCE:  PubMed, Dr. Linda Chao, Principal Investigator

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27513172#


ARCHIVED ABSTRACT:

J Occup Environ Med. 2016 Oct;58(10):1014-1020.

Associations Between the Self-Reported Frequency of Hearing Chemical Alarms in Theater and Visuospatial Function in Gulf War Veterans.

Chao LL1.

Author information

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: 

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the self-reported frequencies of hearing chemical alarms during deployment and visuospatial function in Gulf War (GW) veterans.

METHODS: 

The relationship between the self-reported frequency of hearing chemical alarms, neurobehavioral, and volumetric brain imaging data was examined with correlational, regression, and mediation analyses.

RESULTS: 

The self-reported frequency of hearing chemical alarms was inversely associated with and significantly predicted performance on a visuospatial task (ie, Block Design) over and above potentially confounding variables, including concurrent, correlated GW-related exposures. This effect was partially mediated by the relationship between hearing chemical alarms and lateral occipital cortex volume.

CONCLUSIONS: 

Exposure to substances that triggered chemical alarms during GW deployment likely had adverse effects on veterans' brain structure and function, warranting further investigation of whether these GW veterans are at an increased risk for dementia.

PMID:

 

27513172

 

DOI:

 

10.1097/JOM.0000000000000851

[PubMed - in process]