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Health status of Army Chemical Corps Vietnam veterans who sprayed defoliant in Vietnam (Corrigendum - February 2018).

Kang HK; Dalager NA; Needham LL; Patterson DG Jr.; Lees PSJ; Yates K; Matanoski GM

Am J Ind Med 2006 Nov; 49(11):875-884

https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.20385

20037401

BACKGROUND: U.S. Army Chemical Corps veterans handled and sprayed herbicides in Vietnam resulting in exposure to Agent Orange and its contaminant 2,3,7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD or dioxin). This study examined the long-term health effects associated with herbicide exposure among these Vietnam veterans. METHODS: A health survey of these 1,499 Vietnam veterans and a group of 1,428 non-Vietnam veterans assigned to chemical operations jobs was conducted using a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system. Exposure to herbicides was assessed by analyzing serum specimens from a sample of 897 veterans for dioxin. Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the risk of selected medical outcomes associated with herbicide exposure. RESULTS: Odds ratios for diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and chronic respiratory disease were elevated, but not significantly (P>0.05) for those who served in Vietnam. However, they were significantly elevated among those Vietnam veterans who sprayed herbicides: diabetes, odds ratio (OR)=1.50 (95% confidence interval [95%CI]=1.15-1.95); heart disease, OR=1.52 (1.18-1.94); hypertension, OR=1.32 (1.08-1.61); and chronic respiratory condition, OR=1.62 (1.28-2.05). Hepatitis was associated with Vietnam service, but not with herbicide application. CONCLUSIONS: Vietnam veterans who were occupationally exposed to herbicide experienced a higher risk of several chronic medical conditions relative to other non-Vietnam veterans. A potential selection bias is of concern. However, there were relatively high participation rates in both the Vietnam and non-Vietnam veteran groups, and the prevalence rates of some of these medical conditions among non-Vietnam veterans were comparable to general populations. Therefore, self-selection factors are considered unlikely to have biased the study results. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22832"target="_blank">CORRIGENDUM: Am J Ind Med 2018 Apr; 61(4):358.</a> In the following phrase entailing the expression of a unit in the footnote of Table III on page 879 was published as: *Measured in parts per trillion (ppt), lipid corrected (ng/g serum lipid) The correct text should have read: *Measured in parts per trillion (ppt), lipid corrected (pg/g serum lipid)

Herbicides; Exposure-levels; Exposure-assessment; Chemical-warfare-agents; Chemical-reactions; Dioxides; Dioxins; Poisons; Author Keywords: Agent Orange; Diabetes; Dioxin; Herbicide; Veterans; Vietnam

Dr. Han K. Kang, Director, Environmental Epidemiology Service (135), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20420

AJIMD8

1746-01-6

20061101

Journal Article

han.kang@va.gov

Grant

2007

Grant-Number-T42-OH-008428

11

0271-3586

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

MD; DC; GA

Johns Hopkins University