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William K. Hallman, PhD, Howard M. Kipen, MD, MPH, Michael Diefenbach, PhD, Kendal Boyd, PhD, Han Kang, DrPH, Howard Leventhal, PhD and Daniel Wartenberg, PhD

William K. Hallman, Howard M. Kipen, and Michael Diefenbach are with the New Jersey Center for Environmental Hazards Research, East Orange. Hallman and Kendal Boyd are with the Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick. Kipen and Daniel Wartenberg are with the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway. Diefenbach also is with Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pa. Han Kang is with the Environmental Epidemiology Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC. Howard Leventhal is with the Institute for Health Care Policy and Aging Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Correspondence: Send requests for reprints to William K. Hallman, PhD, Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 55 Dudley Rd, Cook College, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520 (e-mail: hallman{at}aesop.rutgers.edu).

Objectives. We identify symptom patterns among veterans who believe they suffer from Gulf War–related illnesses and characterize groups of individuals with similar patterns.

Methods. A mail survey was completed by 1161 veterans drawn from the Gulf War Health Registry.

Results. An exploratory factor analysis revealed 4 symptom factors. A K-means cluster analysis revealed 2 groups: (1) veterans reporting good health and few moderate/severe symptoms, and (2) veterans reporting fair/poor health and endorsing an average of 37 symptoms, 75% as moderate/severe. Those in Cluster 2 were more likely to report having 1 or more of 24 medical conditions.

Conclusions. These findings are consistent with previous investigations of symptom patterns in Gulf War veterans. This multisymptom illness may be more fully characterized by the extent, breadth, and severity of symptoms reported.

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