Overview and recommendations for medical screening and diagnostic evaluation for postdeployment lung disease in returning US warfighters.

Objective: To review inhalational exposures and respiratory disease risks in US military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and to develop consensus recommendations for medical screening and diagnostic referral.

Methods: A Working Group of physicians and exposure scientists from academia and from the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs was convened in February 2010.

Results: Despite uncertainty about the number of people affected and risk factors for adverse pulmonary outcomes in this occupational setting, the Working Group recommended: (1) standardized approaches to pre- and postdeployment medical surveillance; (2) criteria for medical referral and diagnosis; and (3) case definitions for major deployment-related lung diseases.

Respiratory symptoms necessitating spirometry among soldiers with Iraq/Afghanistan war lung injury.

Objective: New-onset asthma rates are higher among US soldiers deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan than stateside, but overall respiratory symptom and spirometry rates among soldiers returning from Iraq/Afghanistan have not yet been addressed. We determined these rates in soldiers deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan versus troops stationed elsewhere.

Methods: Retrospective review of active-duty soldiers (2004 to 2010) registered at Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Northport, New York, with Long Island/New York City zip codes.