Investigating the respiratory health of deployed military personnel.

Publisher: Oxford University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 2984771R Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0026-4075 (Print) Linking ISSN: 00264075 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Mil Med Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2018- : Oxford : Oxford University Press
Original Publication: Washington, D.C. : Association of Military Surgeons, United States, 1955-

Military Personnel*; Air Pollutants/*analysis ; Environmental Exposure/*adverse effects ; Lung Diseases/*etiology ; Occupational Exposure/*adverse effects; Asthma/epidemiology ; Asthma/etiology ; Bronchiolitis/epidemiology ; Bronchiolitis/etiology ; Eosinophilia/epidemiology ; Eosinophilia/etiology ; Humans ; Inhalation Exposure/adverse effects ; Lung Diseases/epidemiology ; Pneumonia/epidemiology ; Pneumonia/etiology ; Population Surveillance ; Prevalence ; Registries ; Severity of Illness Index ; United States/epidemiology

Recent news media articles have implied a direct relationship between environmental exposures such as burn pits during current deployments and the development of serious and debilitating chronic pulmonary disease. These articles suggest that the military is superficially investigating evidence that establishes a link between deployment and development of chronic lung disease. Anecdotal cases of military personnel with lung disease are detailed to suggest a systemic problem with undiagnosed and untreated pulmonary disease in deployed service members. Despite these contentions, the U.S. Army Medical Department and other agencies have been actively pursuing numerous scientific investigations into deployment-related lung disease to define the severity and prevalence of the issue. This article will review relevant research efforts by the U.S. military in the existing medical literature and address the current efforts planned by the services to systematically investigate the possibility of deployment-related pulmonary disease.

0 (Air Pollutants)

Date Created: 20111202 Date Completed: 20111229 Latest Revision: 20190513

20250114

10.7205/milmed-d-10-00436

22128652