Tai Chi and Wellness Interventions for Veterans with Gulf War Illness: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom illness that affects up to one-third of the 700,000 American military personnel deployed to the Persian Gulf region in 1990 and 1991. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine feasibility and the relative efficacy of two 12-week in-person group treatments (Tai Chi and Wellness) to address GWI symptoms of chronic pain, fatigue, and changes in mood and cognitive functioning.

Male and female veterans were randomly assigned to Tai Chi (n = 27) or Wellness (n = 26) group interventions and assessed at four time points: baseline, post-treatment, 3-, and 9-month follow-up. Multilevel models with a treatment-by-time interaction term were utilized to evaluate treatment effects and changes in GWI-related outcomes over time.

Satisfaction was high, there were no adverse events, and over half the participants attended 75% or more sessions with no significant differences between groups. For pain interference, analyses revealed a significant quadratic effect of time with no differences between treatment groups. For general fatigue and a cognitive test of trail making, no significant effects were detected. For depressed mood, linear and quadratic time effects and the group x linear time interaction were significant indicating greater reductions for Tai Chi participants. For a verbal learning test, linear and quadratic time and the group x quadratic time interaction significantly predicted total recall with Tai Chi participants demonstrating more rapid initial improvements.

Findings indicate that both Tai Chi and Wellness are feasible and acceptable. Both interventions may have a salutary impact on pain interference, depression, and verbal learning with some advantages for Tai Chi.