Public Health
Military Exposures & Your Health - 2024 - Issue 14
In this issue:
- VA Launches the Redesigned Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry
- Landmark Study Continues on 1990-1991 Gulf War Era Veterans -- VA Sends Fourth Health Survey Since 1995
- Agencies Hold Second Annual Karshi-Khanabad Community Forum
- Health Outcomes Military Exposures (HOME) Provides Education for Health Professionals in Military Environmental Exposures
VA Launches the Redesigned Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry
This August, VA launched the redesigned Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry to improve data collection about military exposures and make participation easier for Veterans. Feedback from Veterans, as well as recommendations from the VA Office of Inspector General and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, informed the redesign of the registry. The redesigned registry combines Veteran and service member data to help VA better understand, research, and address the health challenges faced by Veterans exposed to airborne hazards and burn pits during their military service.
Key New Features of the Redesigned Registry
- More than 4.7 million eligible Veterans and service members will be automatically registered via Department of Defense military service records. No action is required for registration.
- Due to its new auto-registration process, the registry no longer requires that Veterans complete a lengthy questionnaire prior to registration.
- Veterans may opt out of the registry by going to https://vethome.va.gov/BurnPitRegistryOptOut/ and submitting an opt-out inquiry.
- Veterans can check their eligibility status by contacting the Environmental Health Coordinator at their local VA medical center (VAMC). Contact information for Environmental Health Coordinators can be found at publichealth.va.gov/exposures/coordinators.asp.
If you are eligible and included in the registry, you are helping your fellow Veterans by supporting research on airborne hazards and burn pit exposures and health outcomes, leading to improvements in care for Veterans in the future. Eligibility is based on locations of deployment and period of service, and a full eligibility list is available online. Your participation in the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry does not affect your benefits status or health care.
If you participated in the original Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, thank you! You have already contributed to research and understanding of the health impacts of these exposures and your input is already included in the redesigned registry.
Learn more about the new and improved Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry. If you have any additional questions, please contact your local VAMC Environmental Health Coordinator for more information.
Landmark Study Continues on 1990-1991 Gulf War Era Veterans -- VA Sends Fourth Health Survey Since 1995
In September 2024, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) researchers contacted a pre-selected group of Gulf War Era Veterans for the fourth time since the 1990-1991 Gulf War to ask them to complete a survey for a landmark, long-term health study called the Gulf War Era Cohort Study.
Previous survey efforts took place in 1995, 2005, and 2012. Like past surveys, this latest survey measures the current health and well-being of Veterans who served in the U.S. military between 1990-1991. This study includes 15,000 pre-selected Veterans who were deployed as well as 15,000 who were in the military at that time but were not deployed to the Gulf region.
Dr. Erin K. Dursa, Director of Surveillance Military Environmental Exposures within VA’s Health Outcomes Military Exposures (HOME) and principal investigator on this study said, “Now, more than 30 years since the 1990-1991 Gulf War, we want to learn about how the health of Gulf War Era Veterans has changed over time, and about chronic conditions such as Gulf War illness, neurological issues, cancers, and long COVID. This current survey will help VA better understand the health of Veterans who did and did not deploy to the 1990-1991 Gulf War theatre of operations.”
The earlier surveys of the Gulf War Era Cohort Study resulted in the production of more than two dozen scientific articles. Researchers studied multi-symptom illnesses, chronic diseases, and environmental exposures linked to military service in this group of Veterans.
For example, a 2021 study showed that Gulf War Veterans’ health declined earlier than the health of Gulf War Era Veterans who did not serve in the Gulf War. Veterans who served during the 1990-1991 Gulf War reported higher rates of chronic fatigue syndrome, PTSD, gastrointestinal illness, and skin conditions at a younger age compared to Veterans who did not serve in the Gulf War. These findings, along with ongoing and future research will help VA understand the long-term health effects of deployment and improve VA health care.
More information about this study can be found at https://www.publichealth.va.gov/epidemiology/studies/gulf-war-longitudinal-study.asp
Agencies Hold Second Annual Karshi-Khanabad Community Forum
On June 25, 2024, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) held the second annual community forum for Veterans who served at Karshi-Khanabad (K2) Airbase. K2, also known as Camp Stronghold Freedom, was a Soviet-era air base used by U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine forces for support missions into Afghanistan.
During the community forum, agency officials shared updates on:
- ATSDR’s identification of historical potential contaminants of concern at K2.
- Initial morbidity and mortality analyses from VA’s K-2 Surveillance Program. VA reported that currently, there is no evidence of an increased risk of disease or mortality as a result of K2 deployment. VA plans to do additional assessments before making any firm conclusions.
- DoD mortality study results. The DoD study analysis did not show an association between K2 service and increased all-cause mortality.
The K-2 Community Forum ended with questions from members of the K2 community and answers from government agency representatives.
The first K-2 Community Forum took place June 29, 2023. These virtual forums will take place annually until 2033.
Learn more about the K2 community forums at https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/karshi-khanabad-forum.asp.
Health Outcomes Military Exposures (HOME) Provides Education for Health Professionals in Military Environmental Exposures
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) HOME program is working hard to educate health care professionals in and outside of VA on military environmental exposures.
HOME and the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC), working with the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), created free certification programs to help health professionals care for Veterans with military environmental exposures. The Level 1 certification program focuses on developing a foundation for understanding military environmental exposures and health concerns. Topics include airborne hazards, Gulf War illness, and depleted uranium. As of June 21, 2024, more than 1,000 health care professionals both in and outside of VA have completed the Level 1 certification.
A Level 2 certification expands on teaching health care professionals how to treat Veterans from the lens of exposure-informed care. Topics include Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune, Gulf War Illness, and ionizing radiation.
In addition, On July 10, 2024, HOME hosted a virtual day of learning to provide essential training for VA staff to develop and sustain the skills needed to serve and evaluate Veterans with military environmental exposures.
Over 681 VA staff attended this training event, which included updates on the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act research, garrison exposures, and the newly redesigned Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry. Additional topics included strategies to improve communication between Veterans and staff about exposure concerns, an interactive case study, and the Exposure Ed app. HOME held a similar training event on February 22, 2024.
