Prevalence of gynecologic cancers among female Vietnam veterans

The possibility of a gender-specific health problem associated with the Vie tnam War has been a concern since the war. We targeted 4140 female Vietnam veterans and 4140 veteran control to complete a structured telephone interv iew that included questions regarding any history of gynecologic cancer. As a measure of association between the risk of cancer and military service i n Vietnam, odds ratios and 95% confidence interval were calculated using mu ltiple logistic regression models that yielded estimates of potential cofou nders, Although 8% of Vietnam veterans and 7.1% of non-Vietnam veterans rep orted a history of gynecologic cancers, namely breast, ovary, uterus, or ce rvix, the difference was not statistically significant either for the indiv idual site or for the gynecologic cancers as a group. Female Vietnam vetera ns have not experienced a higher prevalence of gynecologic cancer in the 30 years since the conflict.