The study of reproductive outcome and the health of offspring of UK veterans of the Gulf war: methods and description of the study population

Table 4 Response rates

	GWV			NGWV
	No.	Crude %	Adjusted¹ %	No.	Crude %	Adjusted¹ %
MEN
TOTAL ELIGIBLE FOR STUDY	51581	(100)	-	51688	(100)	-
Died before start of study, or before receipt or completion of questionnaire²	528	(1)	-	498	(1)	-
Unable to send (no valid address)³	981	(2)	-	1712	(3)	-
Undelivered, returned to sender	4473	(9)	-	6042	(12)	-
TOTAL ASSUMED DELIVERED	45599	(88)	(100)	43436	(84)	(100)
No response	20936	(41)	(46)	24540	(48)	(57)
Refused to participate⁴	284	(1)	(1)	457	(1)	(1)
COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE ^\|5	24379	(47)	(53)	18439	(36)	(42)
Never tried to have children (% of all Completed forms) ⁶	5738	(24)	-	4187	(23)	-
Children / tried to have children (% of all completed forms)	18501	(76)	-	14176	(77)	-
WOMEN
TOTAL ELIGIBLE FOR STUDY	1230	(100)	-	1236	(100)	-
Died before start of study, or before receipt or completion of questionnaire	7	(1)	-	12	(1)	-
Unable to send (no valid address)³	90	(7)	-	97	(8)	-
Undelivered, returned to sender	150	(12)	-	185	(15)	-
TOTAL ASSUMED DELIVERED	983	(80)	(100)	942	(76)	(100)
No response	273	(22)	(28)	355	(29)	(38)
Refused to participate	5	(0.4)	(1)	23	(2)	(2)
COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE* ⁷	705	(57)	(72)	564	(46)	(60)
Never tried to have children (% of all Completed forms) ⁸	312	(44)	-	242	(43)	-
Children / tried to have children (% of all completed forms)	390	(55)	-	320	(57)	-

¹Adjusted for undelivered questionnaires and those not sent, i.e. rate among those assumed to have received a questionnaire. ²Subjects identified to us as dead by a relative or other person at the address of the late subject, or by the MoD in regular updates of deaths to 31^st March 2001. Includes 4 subjects (1 Gulf, 3 Era) who were too ill to fill the questionnaire in. ³Includes addresses in Northern Ireland and Eire which had not had been confirmed. ⁴Includes 2 Gulf and 2 Era subjects who subsequently died. ⁵Includes 55 Gulf and 34 Era subjects who died after completing their form. ⁶Includes 140 Gulf and 76 Era subjects where questions about children and pregnancies were left blank on the questionnaire. ⁷Includes 2 Gulf and 1 Era subject who died after completing their form. ⁸Includes 3 Gulf and 2 Era subjects where questions about children and pregnancies were left blank on the questionnaire

ISSN: 1471-2458