Neurobehavioral deficits associated with chronic fatigue syndrome in veterans with Gulf War unexplained illnesses

Gulf War unexplained illnesses (GWUI) are a heterogeneous collection of symptoms of unknown origin known to be more common among veterans of the Gulf War than among nonveterans. In the present study we focused on one of these unexplained illnesses. We tested the hypothesis that in a sample of Persian Gulf War veterans chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was associated with cognitive deficits on computerized cognitive testing after controlling for the effects of premorbid cognitive differences. We obtained Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) data acquired around the date of induction into the military on 94 veterans of the Gulf War, 32 with CFS and 62 healthy controls. Controls performed better than participants diagnosed with CFS on the AFQT. Cognitive deficits were associated with CFS on 3 of 8 variables after the effect of premorbid AFQT scores was removed with ANCOVA.