title: Investigating the respiratory health of deployed military personnel.
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, 3851 Roger Brooke Drive, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234, USA.
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Morris
authors: Lisa L
authors: LL
authors: Zacher
authors: David A
authors: DA
authors: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008889:Military Personnel; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants