Iraq/Afghanistan Deployment Tied to Respiratory Woes

[sabra]

Source: ABC News/Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - U.S. military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan face an increased risk for developing respiratory symptoms, including persistent or recurring cough and shortness of breath, a large-scale military study has shown.

Combat stress along with air pollution could be to blame, researchers say.

The findings stem from the Millennium Cohort Study, an ongoing study designed to investigate long-term health consequences related to military service.

Among nearly 39,000 military personnel free of persistent or recurring cough or shortness of breath at the outset, 14 percent of "deployers" to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq suffered new respiratory symptoms compared with 10 percent of "non-deployers" not assigned to those war zones, the researchers found.

Still, they wrote in the American Journal of Epidemiology, "The current results are reassuring in that no increase in reported asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema was noted in the short term."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=9240724

[Bette Noir]

1. A friend of mine who deployed spent a couple of months in the hospital

before he even got home. I think his diagnosis was a severe immune reaction to the vaccinations and other meds he was given while he was there.

Another friend, who had been in the first Gulf War under Bush the Elder, died in his sleep in his early 40s, after fighting unsuccessfully for years to get disability. His military docs thought his symptoms were psychological.

[kimi]

2. Air quality in Kabul is terrible

The dust and pollution are what my husband says gives him shortness of breath and make his eyes sting when being driven through Kabul. And he's never had respiratory issues before, has always run miles each week, and doesn't smoke.

[truthrocks]

3. What about the freakin' Long Term effects?

". . . no increase in reported asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema was noted in the short term."

These three lung diseases take years to develop - the stats 20 years from now will be much different.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[Soylent Brice]

5. K&R