While initial research into the incidence of birth defects among women who served in the Gulf war between 1990 and 1991 found that it was no greater than in the general population, subsequent studies have found that some minor Gulf war birth defects did occur more often among female veterans who were deployed at the time of the conflict.
Researchers have recently examined data relating to minor and major birth defects in a group of 788 children born to 522 female and male soldiers (including both those who were and were not deployed during the Gulf war) with women representing about a third of respondents in the study. Rates of major birth defects were found to be similar for both deployed and non-deployed couples and there was no difference between incidences in deployed and non-deployed women.
Minor birth defects, however, were almost 500% more common among children produced by deployed women than those who were not deployed (22% and 5%). The difference was displayed in higher rates of minor abnormalities such as eye and musculoskeletal problems that occurred among deployed women according to a report produced at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis.
Congenital ptosis (commonly known as ‘drooping eyelid’) was the most common birth abnormality noted with incidence rates of 13% among deployed women compared with only 2% among children born to non-deployed women. The study suggests that exposure to nerve gas and mustard gas during the conflict was the main cause of these Gulf war birth defects. There had been concerns after the end of the war that veterans could suffer from an increased risk of birth defects due to their exposure to toxic gases and other substances during their deployment.
Some previous research had focused mainly on veterans exposure to toxic substances prior to conception which was regarded as the most relevant to potential abnormalities since women who reported being pregnant would have been immediately evacuated. It was subsequently discovered, however, that there were a significant number of women who were not evacuated and could have suffered environmental exposures to dangerous chemicals during their first trimester of pregnancy.
Nonetheless, larger studies that have been population based and that captured births in both military and civilian hospitals which were then matched with data from military records during the period of the Gulf war have not found any significant correlation between birth defects and veterans who served during the conflict.