Clinical findings in 111 ex-Porton Down volunteers

Enduring beliefs about effects of gassing in war: qualitative study

OBJECTIVES

To discover the content of enduring beliefs held by first world war veterans about their experience of having been gassed.

DESIGN

Collection and thematic analysis of written and reported statements from a sample of veterans about gassing.

SUBJECTS

103 veterans with a war pension.

RESULTS

Twelve themes were identified, which were related to individual statements. The systemic nature of chemical weapons played a key part in ideas and beliefs about their capacity to cause enduring harm to health. Unlike shrapnel or a bullet that had a defined physical presence, gas had unseen effects within the body, while its capacity to cause damage was apparent from vesicant effects to skin and eyes. The terror inspired by chemical weapons also served to maintain memories of being gassed, while anti-gas measures were themselves disconcerting or a source of discomfort.

CONCLUSIONS

Chronic symptoms and work difficulties maintained beliefs about the potency of chemical weapons. In the period after the war, gas continued to inspire popular revulsion and was associated with a sense of unfairness.

Symptoms, ill-health and quality of life in a support group of Porton Down veterans

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.