title: Incidence of lung, eye, and skin lesions as late complications in 34,000 Iranians with wartime exposure to mustard agent.
abstract: Approximately 34,000 Iranians known to have sustained mustard agent exposure during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988 and survived over a decade afterwards were screened for distribution of the most commonly occurring medical problems. In order of greatest incidence, these include lesions of the lungs (42.5%), eyes (39.3%), and skin (24.5%). Within each subpopulation, patients were ranked according to severity of lesions. Twenty-three percent to 37% of patients exhibited at least mild coverage, with 1.5% to 4.5% classed as moderate, and a much smaller population (0.023-1.0%) of the 34,000 patients exhibiting extensive (severe) lesional coverage. These results provide a comprehensive overview of the medical problem most common among mustard victims and could serve as a predictor of the likely impact of these weapons on health status of populations exposed to them during ongoing military conflicts.
authors: Chemical Warfare Victims Unit, Organization of Veterans Affairs, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Shahriar
authors: S
authors: Khateri
authors: Mostafa
authors: M
authors: Ghanei
authors: Saeed
authors: S
authors: Keshavarz
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Soroush
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Haines
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents / Q000506:poisoning*; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009151:Mustard Gas / Q000506:poisoning*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology; D014857:Warfare
chemical_list: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents; D009151:Mustard Gas