Is cardiovascular disease more common in Vietnam veterans exposed to agent orange?

Kang, Won Yu; Kim, Han Gyun; Jeong, Myung Ho; Cho, Sang Cheol; Jung, An Doc; Cho, Yong Chan; Ki, Young Hwa; Lee, Bong Gyu; Hwang, Sun Ho; Kim, Weon; Kim, Wan

Abstract

BACKGROUND: TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin), a material of agent orange, was reported as a deadly poison in spite of its presence at extremely small doses. It has been reported that TCDD can cause various kinds of cancers and harmful effects on humans. However, a correlation between exposure to TCDD and cardiovascular disease is not yet known. Thus, we intended to examine the correlation between TCDD exposure and cardiovascular disease through an analysis of coronary angiograms in veterans of the Vietnam War.
METHODS
A consecutive 115 patients undergoing coronary angiograms between April 2004 and June 2005 at Gwangju Veterans Hospital were analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups: 57 patients exposed to TCDD (Group I, average age 59.2+/-4.2 years) and 58 patients that were not exposed to TCDD (Group II, Average age 60.1+/-5.6 years). The clinical and coronary angiographic findings were evaluated.
RESULTS
Baseline clinical characteristics, inflammatory markers and echocardiographic parameters were not different between patients in the two groups. The incidence of diabetes (43.9% vs. 25.0%, p=0.035) and hyperlipidemia (47.4% vs. 27.6%, p=0.028) were higher in group I patients than group II patients. Significant coronary artery stenosis was more common in group I (45 cases, 78.9%) thanin group II (33 cases, 56.9%) (p=0.011).
CONCLUSIONS
There was a higher incidence of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and significant coronary artery stenosis in patients that underwent a diagnostic coronary angiogram that were previously exposed to TCDD.