Gulf War Illness: Clinical and Research Recommendations and Controversies

CME/MOC: 1.5
TRACK: OEM Clinical Practice

J. Wesson Ashford, MD, PhD, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA
Erin K. Dursa, PhD, MPH, Department of Veteran Affairs, Washington, DC
Victor F. Kalasinsky, PhD, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
Peter D. Rumm, MD, MPH, FACPM, Post-Deployment Health Services, Department of Veteran Affairs, Washington, DC

Since the 1991 Gulf War, more than 30% of Gulf War veterans have presented to clinicians with a myriad of unexplained symptoms known commonly as Gulf War illness (GWI). This session will introduce this condition, also known as chronic multisymptom illness (CMI), and discuss ongoing differences in opinion on diagnosis and treatment. It will cover the main recommendations from the most recent Institute of Medicine Report: Gulf War and Health: Volume 10: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War, 2016. It will explain how the VA Research Advisory Committee on GWI, veterans advocacy groups, and internal VA experts have agreed with or proposed alternatives to the IOM recommendations to assure that scientists and clinicians address the most appropriate directions for research and treatment. The session will also present cutting-edge research in this field, research the VA is funding or considering conducting, and how such research might change clinical practice.