JOEM: Fatigue and Pain Severity in Gulf War Illness (November 2022)-JOEM: Fatigue and Pain Severity in Gulf War Illness (November 2022)

JOEM: Fatigue and Pain Severity in Gulf War Illness (November 2022)

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A preliminary study conducted on 12 male veterans with Gulf War illness (GWI) aimed to investigate the relationships between inflammatory markers and symptoms of pain and fatigue. The study participants provided daily blood samples and symptom ratings over 25 days. The results showed that days with worse fatigue severity were associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA), and lower levels of eotaxin 1. Muscle pain and joint pain were associated with leptin, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), and interferon γ-induced protein (IP-10). Joint pain was also associated with serum amyloid A and eotaxin 3. The findings suggest that fatigue and pain in GWI may be associated with inflammation, and the study recommends further exploration of conventional and novel anti-inflammatory treatments for GWI. However, it should be noted that the study had a small sample size, included only male veterans, and focused on a limited set of symptoms. Therefore, further research with larger and more diverse populations is needed to validate these findings and investigate other symptoms of GWI.

Keywords

Gulf War illness

inflammatory markers

pain

fatigue

C-reactive protein

serum amyloid A

eotaxin 1

muscle pain

joint pain

anti-inflammatory treatments