Symptoms, ill-health and quality of life in a support group of Porton Down veterans
Symptoms, ill-health and quality of life in a support group of Porton Down veterans
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DOI：
10.1093/occmed/kql059
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发表时间：
2006-08-01
影响因子：
5.1
通讯作者：
Venables, Katherine M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Allender, Steven;Maconochie, Noreen;Venables, Katherine M.
背景自第一次世界大战以来，位于波顿唐恩的英国化学武器研究机构一直在进行一项人类志愿者计划，其中一些参与者暴露在化学战剂中。目的确定波顿唐人支持小组(Porton Down Veterans Support Group，PDVSG)成员中任何显著的特定发病率模式。方法自填邮寄问卷，内容包括访问波顿唐恩后立即的健康状况、随后的诊断和住院情况、访问后第一个5年的症状、疲劳症状和目前的生活质量，使用SF-36进行测量。结果从436人中的289人(66%)获得回复。本文报告的结果涉及269名男性受访者，平均年龄为66.8岁。66%的人说他们第一次去波顿唐人是在20世纪50年代。报告的最常见的诊断或入院治疗是循环系统疾病。在他们就诊后的头5年里，最常见的症状是头痛、易怒或爆发愤怒，以及睡眠后感觉不清爽。晚期最常见的症状是乏力、入睡后神志不清、睡眠困难。65%的人符合“疲劳”的定义。目前的生活质量维度一直低于一般人群样本中特定年龄段的估计。结论回答本次调查的PDVSG成员报告的生活质量比一般人群更差。尽管没有明确的具体发病模式，但我们不能排除健康不良可能与过去在Porton Down的经历有关。
Background There has been a Human Volunteer Programme at the British chemical weapons research facility at Porton Down since the First World War, in which some of the participants were exposed to chemical warfare agents.Aim To identify any striking specific morbidity patterns in members of the Porton Down Veterans Support Group (PDVSG).Methods A self-completed postal questionnaire was prepared including health immediately after the visits to Porton Down, subsequent diagnoses and hospital admissions, symptoms in, and after, the first 5 years after the visits, fatigue symptoms and current quality of life, measured using the SF-36.Results Responses were received from 289 of 436 (66%). Results reported here relate to 269 male respondents of mean age 66.8 years. Sixty-six per cent reported their first visit to Porton Down in the 1950s. The most common diagnoses or hospital admissions reported were diseases of the circulatory system. In the first 5 years after their visits the most common symptoms were headache, irritability or outbursts of anger and feeling un-refreshed after sleep. In the later period, most common symptoms were fatigue, feeling un-refreshed after sleep and sleeping difficulties. Sixty-five per cent met the definition for a case of 'fatigue'. Current quality of life dimensions were consistently lower than age-specific estimates from general population samples.Conclusions Members of the PDVSG responding to this survey reported poorer quality of life than the general population. Despite there being no clear pattern of specific morbidities, we cannot rule out ill-health being potentially associated with past experience at Porton Down.