Respiratory health status of Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War and the effects of exposure to oil fire smoke and dust storms

Abstract

Background: Since the 1991 Gulf War concerns have been raised about the effects on veterans' health of exposures to Kuwaiti oil fire smoke and to dust storms. Methods: A cross sectional study compared 1456 Australian Gulf War veterans with a randomly sampled military comparison group (n = 1588). A postal questionnaire asked about respiratory conditions, exposures, medications, tobacco use, demographic characteristics, and military service details. During a medical assessment, spirometric tests and a physical examination were performed and a respiratory questionnaire was administered. Results: The response rate for the Gulf War veteran group was 80.5% and for the comparison group 56.8%. Australian Gulf War veterans had a higher than expected prevalence of respiratory symptoms and respiratory conditions suggesting asthma (OR 1.4; 95% CI 1.1 to 1.9) and bronchitis first diagnosed since the Gulf War (OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.2 to 3.1) but did not have poorer lung function or more ventilatory abnormalities than the comparison group. Veterans who reported exposure to oil fire smoke had slightly poorer forced vital capacity (difference between means -0.10 l; 95% CI -0.18 to -0.03) and those exposed to dust storms had a slightly better peak expiratory flow rate (difference between means 12.0 l/ min; 95% CI 0.6 to 23.4) than veterans who did not report exposure. Veterans who were in the Gulf at or after the start of the oil fires had more respiratory conditions suggesting asthma (OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.0 to 2.9) than those who completed their deployment before this time. Conclusions: Increased self-reporting of respiratory symptoms, asthma, and bronchitis by veterans was not reflected in poorer lung function. The findings do not suggest major long term sequelae of exposure to oil fire smoke or dust storms.

Reproductive health of male Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War

“…Despite a rigorous contact and recruitment strategy, the comparison group participation rate was lower than that of the veteran group, but was comparable to or greater than that of other major postal surveys of veterans [2,29,30]. Our formal evaluation of possible participation bias previously reported in relation to symptoms and medical conditions [14,15], psychological [13] and neurological [31] health suggests that this is unlikely to fully explain the differences (or lack thereof) that we found between our study groups.…”

A Systematic Review of Global Desert Dust and Associated Human Health Effects

“…Recent studies showed significantly reduced peak expiratory flow (PEF) values and more increased PEF variability during dust days than during the control days in Korea [112][113][114][115]. The same result was also reported in veterans exposed to dust storms, who exhibited a slightly better peak expiratory flow rate than veterans, who did not report exposure in the 1991 Gulf War [116]. Long-term exposure to desert dust particles will lead to nonindustrial pneumoconiosis or desert lung syndrome [117].…”

Exposure to Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil Burnoff Particulate Matter Induces Pulmonary Inflammation and Alters Adaptive Immune Response

“…Some of the previous epidemiological studies on Gulf war veterans exposed to oil well fires demonstrate an association between exposure to PM from crude oil well smoke and asthma 35 and a higher prevalence of reduced forced vital capacity. 36 Since PM from crude oil smoke is a complex mixture, it is difficult to attribute the observed respiratory health effects to specific constituents. However, PM is a major constituent of the smoke, and since PM is known to affect respiratory health, here we tested the effect of acute exposure to inhaled in situ burned oil PM (OSPM).…”