United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1998-03-03 monographic deposited born digital 30 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-98-89 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89 P0b002ee18038e289 f:ns98089 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89 NSIAD-98-89 Chemical warfare Biological warfare Cancer Disease detection or diagnosis Military personnel Armed forces abroad Medical information systems Health surveys Statistical data DOD Persian Gulf War Health Surveillance System Persian Gulf War VA Persian Gulf War Health Registry NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program Desert Storm DOD Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program Gulf War Syndrome Letter Report NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed data on the incidence of tumors among Gulf War veterans, focusing on: (1) the reliability of data sources available for determining the incidence of tumors among Gulf War veterans; and (2) the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) and the Department of Defense's (DOD) use of data sources to monitor tumors and other illnesses among Gulf War veterans.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) none of the data sources that provide information on the health characteristics of Gulf War veterans can be used to reliably estimate the incidence of tumors; (2) VA's benefits information system can track the vital status and causes of deaths among Gulf War veterans; (3) however, not all cancers result in death and those that do may take several years to show up; (4) as a result, the system will underreport overall incidence; (5) DOD and VA maintain large hospitalization reporting systems; (6) however, a large majority of Gulf War veterans do not use DOD and VA hospitals and there has been little effort to determine whether this hidden population has health conditions similar to those of the population captured by the reporting systems; (7) DOD's reporting system also does not account for outpatient medical care; (8) VA has recently begun to fill this gap for its outpatient facilities, but it may take several years before consistent and reliable reporting is available; (9) a national cancer registry reports aggregate population rates and trends but cannot be used to track the Gulf War population; (10) DOD and VA health registries report information on the type of health problems Gulf War veterans have experienced at the time of their examination; (11) however, because not all veterans are examined, the information collected cannot be used to estimate the frequency of illnesses among all Gulf War veterans; (12) VA is conducting a national survey to study the general health status of Gulf War veterans; (13) the study uses representative samples of deployed and nondeployed veterans; (14) however, the response rate to the survey has been low and the study's sample size may be too small to asses any elevated incidence of most cancers; (15) DOD and VA have initiated efforts to improve the utility of these data systems but have not developed the capability to specifically address questions about tumors or other illnesses among Gulf War veterans; (16) as a result, it is not known how many Gulf War veterans have tumors or whether they have a higher incidence of them than other veterans; and (17) according to agency officials, no other plans aside from periodic assessments of mortality have been made to monitor tumor cases within this population. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89.pdf GAO/NSIAD-98-89 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-89 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-98-89; Gulf War Veterans: Incidence of Tumors Cannot Be Reliably Determined From Available Data; Chemical warfare Biological warfare Cancer Disease detection or diagnosis Military personnel Armed forces abroad Medical information systems Health surveys Statistical data DOD Persian Gulf War Health Surveillance System Persian Gulf War VA Persian Gulf War Health Registry NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program Desert Storm DOD Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program Gulf War Syndrome Public Law 102-515 Public Law 105-85