Somatic symptoms in Gulf War mortuary workers.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this article is to examine the relationship between exposures to the dead and the development of somatic symptoms.


METHODS
We studied the pre-post responses of 352 military men and women who worked in the mortuary that received the dead from the Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) in 1990 to 1991. Symptoms of somatization were measured before and after exposure to the dead. The respondents were volunteers and nonvolunteers for assignment to the mortuary; some had prior experience in handling the dead and some did not. Four groups of participants were examined based on the degree of exposure to remains. Age, sex, volunteer status, prior experience handling remains, and preexposure measures of depression and mutilation fear were statistically controlled.


RESULTS
Postexposure somatic symptoms increased significantly over preexposure levels for the two groups with the most exposure to the dead.


CONCLUSIONS
These results provide additional evidence that exposure to the dead is related to somatic distress.
McCarroll
James E
JE
Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799, USA. jmcarroll@usuhs.mil
Ursano
Robert J
RJ
Fullerton
Carol S
CS
Liu
Xian
X
Lundy
Allan
A
D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019156:Indian Ocean; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D009027:Mortuary Practice; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014857:Warfare