A CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF LUNG-CANCER AMONG VIETNAM VETERANS

Because of concerns among veterans over Agent Orange exposure, the Dep artment of Veterans Affairs (VA) has conducted a series of studies of specific cancers among Vietnam veterans. Lung cancer is the topic of i nvestigation in this report. The VA's Patient Treatment File (PTF) was used to identify 329 Vietnam era veterans with a diagnosis of lung ca ncer made between 1983 and 1990, The PTF is a computerized hospitalize d database of inpatient records, including patients' demographic data, and diagnoses. A record is created for each inpatient discharged from any one of the VA's Medical Centers, Variables abstracted from the mi litary record include education, race, branch of service, Military Occ upational Specialty Code, rank, and units served within Vietnam, Two h undred sixty-nine controls were randomly selected from the PTF file of men hospitalized for a reason other than cancer, A second control gro up numbering 111 patients with colon cancer was also selected from the PTF file, Data were also gathered on exposure to Agent Orange through the location of each individual ground troop veteran's unit in relati on to an area sprayed and the time elapsed since that area was sprayed , The crude odds ratio between service in Vietnam and lung cancer was of borderline significance (odds ratio = 1.39 with 95% confidence inte rval = 1.01-1.92). The relationship disappeared when the confidence ye ar of birth was considered, We conclude from these data that there is no evidence of increased risk in lung cancer associated with service i n Vietnam at this time.