Article

Health status of Army Chemical Corps Vietnam veterans who sprayed defoliant in Vietnam†

  1. Han K. Kang DrPH1,*,
  2. Nancy A. Dalager MS1,
  3. Larry L. Needham PhD2,
  4. Donald G. Patterson Jr. PhD2,
  5. Peter S.J. Lees PhD3,
  6. Katherine Yates MS3,
  7. Genevieve M. Matanoski MD, DrPH3

Article first published online: 27 SEP 2006

DOI: 10.1002/ajim.20385

Issue

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

American Journal of Industrial Medicine

Volume 49, Issue 11, pages 875–884, November 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Kang, H. K., Dalager, N. A., Needham, L. L., Patterson, D. G., Lees, P. S., Yates, K. and Matanoski, G. M. (2006), Health status of Army Chemical Corps Vietnam veterans who sprayed defoliant in Vietnam. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 49: 875–884. doi: 10.1002/ajim.20385

Author Information

  1. 1

    Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, District of Columbia

  2. 2

    National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

  3. 3

    Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

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

  1. †

    This article is a US government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 11 OCT 2006
  2. Article first published online: 27 SEP 2006
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 27 JUL 2006

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Keywords:

  • Agent Orange;
  • diabetes;
  • dioxin;
  • herbicide;
  • veterans;
  • Vietnam

Abstract

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. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2006. Published 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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