VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on COVID, substance use disorder and Gulf War Veterans’ experience

The VA Office of Research and Development recently announced three News Briefs highlighting new findings on COVID-19 and Gulf War Illness, substance use disorder treatment, and the experiences of Gulf War veterans.

Researchers Address Veterans’ Care for GWI, COVID

Researchers at the VA in West Haven, Connecticut, used the VA’s Million Veteran Program (MVP) to address veterans’ concerns that Gulf War Illness may increase their risk of adverse outcomes associated with COVID.

Their findings generally found that those deployed overseas in the 1990-1991 Gulf War were not associated with increased health risks associated with COVID, even in the early days of the pandemic before vaccination. MVP allowed researchers to compare more than 130,000 veterans, in which Gulf War veterans were only 1.6% more likely to test positive for COVID. More research would be needed to see if the rate was consistent in the era of the COVID vaccination, but the study shows how the MVP database and VA research can be used to address veterans’ issues.

See the full study from PLOS One.

Hybrid telehealth model helps veterans fight substance abuse

Contingency management (CM) is the use of tangible incentives to reinforce target behaviors. Although it has been shown to be an effective strategy for promoting behavior change, particularly in substance use abstinence and adherence to injecting drugs for substance use disorders, it can be logistically and financially challenging. VA researchers adapted a hybrid telehealth CM model from the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver key CM elements to veterans with substance use disorders for a fraction of the work and time that CM would normally require.

The CM cohort received more than half as many medications (1.62 times) over the year as the comparison group, demonstrating that medication adherence incentives do not need to be expensive to be effective.

See the full study from the Journal of Substance and Addiction Treatment.

Gulf War veterans heard from the VA experience

Researchers from the Portland VA Medical Center combined data from the VA project ‘Listening to Gulf War Veterans: A Qualitative Examination of the Health Experiences and Treatment of Those With Chronic Multisymptomatic Illness’ with a survey of 39 Gulf War veterans; combined data aims to identify the challenges faced by veterans with persistent, unexplained symptoms of chronic fatigue, pain, cognitive impairment, and gastrointestinal distress, commonly known as Gulf War Illness (GWI).

Veterans talked about challenges with communication, navigating VA benefits, and even having GWI recognized as an illness. Although recent legislative and policy changes have made progress in this area, the researchers’ findings highlight historical gaps that could be addressed through standardized, institutional commitment and broader access to individualized care and treatments. See the full study from the Journal of Patient Experience.

For more updates from the Office of Research and Development, visit WORD online or go to https://www.research.va.gov/news_briefs/.