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Environmental Chemicals Altered in Association With Deployment for High Risk Areas
Matthew Ryan Smith1, Karan Uppal, Douglas I Walker
1Clinical Biomarkers Laboratory, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia (Dr Smith, Dr Uppal, Dr Walker, Dr Go, Dr Jones); Department of Environmental Medicine (Dr Utell); Pulmonary Division, Department of Medicine (Dr Utell); Department of Public Health Sciences (Dr Hopke), University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York ; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine & Biostatistics, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Bethesda (Dr Mallon, Dr Krahl); Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Silver Spring (Ms Rohrbeck), Maryland.
Objective:
A study was conducted using serum samples and high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) to test for changes in abundance of environmental chemicals in deployment in high-risk areas (Balad, Iraq; Bagram, Afghanistan).
Methods:
Pre and Post-deployment serum samples for deployment (cases) and matched controls stationed domestically were analyzed by HRM and bioinformatics for the relative abundance of 271 environmental chemicals.
Results:
Of the 271 chemicals, 153 were measurable in at least 80% of the samples in one of the pre- or post-deployment groups. Several pesticides and other chemicals were modestly elevated post-deployment in the Control as well as the Bagram and Balad samples. Similarly, small decreases were seen for some chemicals.
Conclusion:
These results using serum samples show that for the 271 environmental chemicals studied, 56% were detected and small differences occurred with deployment to high-risk areas.