The women who served in the 19901991 Persian Gulf War (GW) are unique in that they were the first group to have fewer restrictions in terms of military occupations and exposure to combat. Of the nearly 41,000 US troops who were women deployed to the GW, many were serving in frontline positions and were exposed to the same toxicants as their male counterparts. Toxicant exposures such as pesticide sprays and creams, oil well fires, diesel fuels, chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents and anti-nerve gas (PB) pills have been found to result in cognitive impairments across a range of neuropsychological tests. Our research team has been following cohorts of women who were deployed to the GW and correlated exposures with neuropsychological outcomes. Overall, in small cohorts of women veterans we found that higher levels of exposures to pesticide sprays and creams and CBW are correlated with short-term memory, mood, and motor deficits. These findings were different from those of their male counterparts. In a recently developed data-repository we have compiled larger groups of women veterans to validate our prior findings.

The current study is an analysis of data from a national bio/data-repository (Boston Biorepository Recruitment and Integrative Network for Gulf War Illness; BBRAIN) which includes key data samples from prior GW studies that have been merged and combined into retrospective datasets. Data include general health and chronic symptom questionnaires, demographics, deployment and self-reported exposure histories (separated into no exposure, fewer than 7 days exposure and greater than or equal to 7 days exposure), as well as key neuropsychological test variables. Three separate datasets were combined to include 62 women. Exposures to chemical alarms, oil well fires, pesticide cream or spray, pesticide fogging, and PB pills were self-reported. Linear regression models were produced for each continuous cognitive outcome, modeled on a given exposure, and controlling for age, education level, PTSD, and other exposures.

Of the 62 women, the majority were White (77%). 74% of women surveyed were employed and 55% were married. 63% of women had at least a high school education. Deployed women who had > 7 days of exposure to pesticide sprays, CBW, smoke from oil well fires, and PB pills were more likely to show deficits in the areas of verbal learning and short-term memory (p < .03) and those with exposure to CBW, smoke from oil well fires, pesticides creams and PB pills had more errors on a test of executive functioning (p < .01). These data differ from the findings from cohorts of men.

These data validate the findings of our prior studies and add credence to the need for separate analyses for men and women. The unique outcomes may lead to individualized treatments for women veterans that may also help women with similar exposures from other deployments in addition to women with occupational exposures.