Biological measures and diagnostic tools for Gulf War Illness - A systematic review.

Autor: Gean EG; Scientific Resource Center for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Evidence-based Practice Center, Portland VA Research Foundation, United States of America. Electronic address: emily.gean@va.gov., Ayers CK; VA Portland Health Care System Evidence Synthesis Program, United States of America., Winchell KA; VA Portland Health Care System Evidence Synthesis Program, United States of America., Freeman M; VA Portland Health Care System Evidence Synthesis Program, United States of America., Press AM; Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center-Durham, Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Durham, NC, United States of America., Paynter R; VA Portland Health Care System Evidence Synthesis Program, United States of America., Kansagara D; VA Portland Health Care System Evidence Synthesis Program, United States of America., Nugent SM; VA Portland Health Care System Evidence Synthesis Program, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Life sciences [Life Sci] 2021 Jun 15; Vol. 275, pp. 119360. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Mar 16.
DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2021.119360
Abstrakt: Aims: Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multisymptom illness with debated etiology and pathophysiology. This systematic review catalogues studies of validated biological tests for diagnosing GWI and of associations between biological measures and GWI for their promise as biomarkers.
Main Methods: We searched multiple sources through February 2020 for studies of diagnostic tests of GWI and of associations between biological measures and GWI. We abstracted data on study design, demographics, and outcomes. We assessed the risk of bias of included studies.
Key Findings: We did not identify any studies validating tests of biomarkers that distinguish cases of GWI from non-cases. We included the best-fitting studies, 32 completed and 24 ongoing or unpublished studies, of associations between GWI and biological measures. The less well-fitting studies (n = 77) were included in a Supplementary Table. Most studies were of the central nervous and immune systems and indicated a significant association of the biological measure with GWI case status. Biological measures were heterogeneous across studies.
Significance: Our review indicates that there are no existing validated biological tests to determine GWI case status. Many studies have assessed the potential association between a variety of biological measures and GWI, the majority of which pertain to the immune and central nervous systems. More importantly, while most studies indicated a significant association between biological measures and GWI case status, the biological measures across studies were extremely heterogeneous. Due to the heterogeneity, the focus of the review is to map out what has been examined, rather than synthesize information.
(Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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