ArticleEnvironmental health : a global access science source2023
Cognitive decrements in 1991 Gulf War veterans: associations with Gulf War illness and neurotoxicant exposures in the Boston Biorepository, Recruitment, and Integrative Network (BBRAIN) cohorts.
Article in Environmental health : a global access science source, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tai Chi and Wellness Interventions for Veterans with Gulf War Illness: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Trial
- Oleoylethanolamide supplementation improves mood and reduces fatigue in veterans with GWI in a 15-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure in battlefield and beyond: Implications for environmental- and human health.Toxicology reports · 2026Review
- Individual-Level Factors Associated With 10-Year Incidence of Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias in the VA Million Veteran Program.Neurology · 2026Article
- Gulf War Illness: Neurological Impacts, Pathophysiological Insights, and Therapeutic Prospects.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Article
- Traumatic brain injury, environmental exposures, and subjective cognition in post-9/11 veterans enrolled in the VA Million Veteran Program.Journal of the neurological sciences · 2025Article
- Editorial: Brain dysfunction in Gulf War illness: pathophysiology and treatment.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Association of deployment characteristics and exposures with persistent ill health among 1990-1991 Gulf War veterans in the VA Million Veteran Program.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2024Article
- Comprehensive examination of resting state fMRI connectomics yields new insights into brain function deficits in Gulf War illness after accounting for heterogeneity in brain impairment across the ill veteran population.Neuroimage. Reports · 2024Article
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11 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDuring deployment, veterans of the 1991 Gulf War (GW) were exposed to multiple war-related toxicants. Roughly a third of these veterans continue to exhibit neurotoxicant induced symptoms of Gulf War Illness (GWI), a multi-faceted condition that includes fatigue, pain and cognitive decrements. When studied empirically, both deployed veterans with exposures and those who meet the criteria for GWI are more likely to show deficits in the area of neuropsychological functioning. Although studies have shown cognitive impairments in small sample sizes, it is necessary to revisit these findings with larger samples and newer cohorts to see if other areas of deficit emerge with more power to detect such differences. A group of researchers and clinicians with expertise in the area of GWI have identified common data elements (CDE) for use in research samples to compare data sets. At the same time, a subgroup of researchers created a new repository to share these cognitive data and biospecimens within the GWI research community.
methodsThe present study aimed to compare cognitive measures of attention, executive functioning, and verbal memory in a large sample of GWI cases and healthy GW veteran controls using neuropsychological tests recommended in the CDEs. We additionally subdivided samples based on the specific neurotoxicant exposures related to cognitive deficits and compared exposed versus non-exposed veterans regardless of case criteria status. The total sample utilized cognitive testing outcomes from the newly collated Boston, Biorepository, Recruitment, and Integrative Network (BBRAIN) for GWI.
resultsParticipants included 411 GW veterans, 312 GWI (cases) and 99 healthy veterans (controls). Veterans with GWI showed significantly poorer attention, executive functioning, learning, and short-and-long term verbal memory than those without GWI. Further, GW veterans with exposures to acetylcholinesterase inhibiting pesticides and nerve gas agents, had worse performance on executive function tasks. Veterans with exposure to oil well fires had worse performance on verbal memory and those with pyridostigmine bromide anti-nerve gas pill exposures had better verbal memory and worse performance on an attention task compared to unexposed veterans.
conclusionsThis study replicates prior results regarding the utility of the currently recommended CDEs in determining impairments in cognitive functioning in veterans with GWI in a new widely-available repository cohort and provides further evidence of cognitive decrements in GW veterans related to war-related neurotoxicant exposures.
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