Objective Evidence of Autonomic Dysfunction and the Role of Stress in the Gulf War Syndrome

In response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, nearly 700 000 US troops were deployed to the Persian Gulf region in 1990 and 1991 as part of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In the aftermath of that war, up to one-quarter of those deployed US veterans reported diverse symptoms and health problems that did not easily conform to standard medical diagnoses.^1-3