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Because press reports in 1995 suggested an excess of a congenital
malformation called Goldenhar syndrome among the children of Gulf War
veterans (GWV), the authors searched for cases of this syndrome among
infants conceived after the Gulf War and born to active duty military
personnel in DoD hospitals. The offspring of all GWV were compared to
those of a 50% sample of veterans who had not deployed to the Gulf (NDV).
Seven children fulfilled the criteria for Goldenhar syndrome. Five were
born to GWVs and 2 to NDVs. The prevalence was higher among GWVs’
infants, but the difference was not statistically significant. The observed
prevalence was compared to the rates in Hawaii, Atlanta, and California
and variations in these rates was discussed. Limitations of this study
are: only births in military hospitals were studied, so the children of
veterans who had left the military, of members of the reserve component,
and of some active duty personnel were not counted; potential errors in
classification of birth defects may have occurred; and, the small number
of affected births resulted in very wide confidence intervals around the
relative risk. |
