Reproductive health of male Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War

We undertook a cross-sectional study of male Australian Gulf War veterans (n = 1,424) and a randomly sampled military comparison group (n = 1,548). The study was conducted from August 2000 to April 2002. A postal questionnaire included questions about difficulties achieving pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes including live births, stillbirths, miscarriages and terminations; and for all live births gestation, birth weight, sex, and any cancers, birth defects, chromosomal abnormalities or serious health problems.Male Gulf War veterans reported slightly increased risk of fertility difficulties following the Gulf War (odds ratio [OR] 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0–1.8), but were more successful at subsequently fathering a child (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.3–2.6). The study groups reported similar rates of pregnancies and live births. There was no increased risk in veterans of miscarriage, stillbirth, or terminations. Children of male Gulf War veterans born after the period of the Gulf War were not at greater risk of being born prematurely, having a low birth weight, or having a birth defect or chromosomal abnormality (OR 1.0; 95% CI 0.6–1.6). The numbers of cancers and deaths in children were too small to draw any firm conclusions.The results of this study do not show an increased risk of adverse reproductive outcome in Australian male Gulf War veterans.Since the 1990–91 Gulf War, concerns have been raised about possible deployment-related effects upon the reproductive health of Gulf War veterans (veterans). The findings of studies investigating reproductive health and the risk of reported birth defects [1-4] and specific types of birth defects [3,5-8] in offspring of veterans from several countries have been varied. Some adverse reproductive outcomes have been reported more commonly by US, UK and Canadian veterans compared with non-Gulf comparison groups, including miscarriages [1-3] and birth defects [1-3,7]. Danish veterans and controls were similar with respect to sex hormo