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Inorganic dust exposure during military service as a predictor of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions.

File Language:
English


Details

  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune (AI) conditions are associated with inorganic dust exposure. Many military activities are likely to entail inorganic dust exposures. We wished to identify associations between prior military dust exposure and RA and other AI conditions. Methods: We studied persons from a roster of Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps personnel who had served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. We linked military occupational codes to a job exposure matrix assigning dust exposure likelihood. We used the Veterans Affairs Health Care System (VAHCS) electronic health care records to identify cases of RA, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis (SSc), vasculitis, and inflammatory myositis. Generalized estimating equations modeled risk of RA and other AI conditions associated with dust exposure, taking into account military service branch, age at first VAHCS encounter, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking status, and years of military service. Results: Of 438 086 veterans (68% ever-smokers), 44% were classified with likely or somewhat likely dust exposure. Cases included 1139 cases with RA, 467 cases with SLE, and 180 cases with other AI diseases (SSc, vasculitis, or inflammatory myositis). Military dust exposure was associated with increased odds of RA (odds ratio [OR] = 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.003-1.20) and increased odds of SSc, vasculitis, or inflammatory myositis (OR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.14-1.34) but was protective for SLE (OR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.76-0.88). Conclusion: Dust exposure during past military service comprises an occupational and environmental risk factor for RA and other AI diseases. This is potentially relevant for prevention activities. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISSN:
    2578-5745
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    466-474
  • Volume:
    3
  • Issue:
    7
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20065611
  • Citation:
    ACR Open Rheumatol 2021 Jul; 3(7):466-474
  • Contact Point Address:
    Paul D. Banc, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Box 0924, University of California at San Francisco, 350 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94117
  • Email:
    Paul.Blanc@ucsf.edu
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2021
  • Performing Organization:
    University of California, Berkeley
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Start Date:
    20050701
  • Source Full Name:
    ACR Open Rheumatology
  • End Date:
    20250630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:e8c12dccb2bef01cb84069df4d9865014845fa6aa9cadc89390ff4636daa2854545bb236dd766b049edee242d6c8d7181e5955ad4d8e42d766f0069284e4e9d3
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 344.01 KB ]
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