1. Respiratory Health Associated With Systemic Metal Exposure in Post-9/11 Veterans in the Department of Veterans Affairs Toxic Embedded Fragment Registry.
- Author
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Hines SE, Gaitens JM, Brown CH, Glick DR, Reback M, Chin KH, Lawrence E, Cavanaugh KL, Lawson WE, Sriram P, Beck L, Duch J, Aguayo SM, Permana P, and McDiarmid MA
- Subjects
- Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Female, United States, Aged, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Metals urine, Adult, Respiratory Function Tests, Occupational Exposure adverse effects, Occupational Exposure analysis, Surveys and Questionnaires, Veterans statistics & numerical data, September 11 Terrorist Attacks, Registries
- Abstract
Objective: Adverse respiratory outcomes in post-9/11 veterans with elevated urinary metal measures and enrolled in the VA's Toxic Embedded Fragment registry were compared to those without elevated urinary metals., Methods: Veterans completed questionnaires, underwent pulmonary physiology tests (pulmonary function and oscillometry), and provided urine samples for analysis of 13 metals. Respiratory symptoms, diagnoses, and physiology measures were compared in veterans with ≥1 urine metal elevation to those without metal elevations, adjusted for covariates, including smoking., Results: Among 402 study participants, 24% had elevated urine metals, often just exceeding upper limits of reference values. Compared to veterans without elevated metals, those with elevated metals had had higher FEV 1 values but similar frequencies of respiratory symptoms and diagnoses and abnormalities on pulmonary physiology tests., Conclusions: Mild systemic metal elevations in post-9/11 veterans are not associated with adverse respiratory health outcomes., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)
- Published
- 2024
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