Epidemiological Studies of Health Outcomes among Troops Deployed to Burn Pit Sites
Abstract
There has been concern over the possibility that, as a result of exposure to smoke produced by burn pit operations in USCENTCOM, deployed Service members are at increased risk for acute and long term health effects 1-4. The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC) and the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) were tasked to conduct expedient epidemiologic studies using readily available data to determine any associations between exposure to burn pit smoke and illness or other health events. These studies assessed whether a range of health outcomes (i.e. respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, chronic multisymptom illness (CMI), lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and birth outcomes for infants whose parents had been deployed) were more likely to occur among troops who were deployed to one or more USCENTCOM sites with a documented burn pit. Since specific individual exposure levels are not available, the studies described herein assumed that troops deployed to selected USCENTCOM locations with active burn pits were exposed to products of combustion in smoke. AFHSC conducted a retrospective cohort study to: (1) compare the incidence rates among deployers and non-deployers for respiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, ill defined conditions, and sleep apnea, (2) compare the responses on the post-deployment health assessment forms among the individuals deployed to one of several USCENTCOM locations, (two with burn pits and two without), and (3) compare the rates and proportions of medical encounters for respiratory outcomes while assigned to the various USCENTCOM locations. In these studies, active component Army and Air Force Service members who were deployed to any one of four USCENTCOM locations (Balad, Buehring, Arifjan, or Taji) or to the Republic of Korea from 1 January 2005 to 30 June 2007 were compared to a never-deployed CONUS-based active component population as of 15 April 2006.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA531001
Entities
Organizations
- Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center