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This editorial comments on the aforementioned studies (Kang
et al. and Gray et al.) which appeared in the same issue of the journal.
He reviews their findings and their methodological strengths and limitations.
The author mentions the many, publicized factors which have been suggested
as causes of veterans’ symptoms and the distrust that many veterans
have of the government. He emphasizes the need for careful, epidemiologic
studies to determine if there is an excess of disease in veterans of the
war. Finally, he cautions that physicians caring for ailing veterans must
resist the pressure to diagnose a disease for which scientific evidence
is lacking, must win veterans’ trust by conducting careful, unbiased,
and thorough evaluations, and must keep their allegiance to their patients,
not to any third party or unfounded hypothesis.
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