Accepted wisdom here is that for all their understandable anxiety at the time, Israelis emerged little scathed from the Scud missiles fired at them by Iraq during the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf.

But a newly published study by three Israeli doctors shows that the death rate soared when the missiles started to fall. It was 58 percent above normal on the day of the first Iraqi attack, Jan. 18, 1991, even though no one was directly hit then by a Scud.

The researchers say they have no conclusive explanation for the high death rate. But the most likely, they add, is that many Israelis died suddenly from great emotional stress or from breathing problems created by gas masks that they, like everyone else, put on during the Scud attacks.

Essentially, one of the doctors said in an interview on Wednesday, their analysis of hospital and morgue records reinforced the idea that it is indeed possible for some people to be frightened, literally, to death.