Prevalence of Environmental and Other Military Exposure Concerns in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans

Objective: This study examined the prevalence of self-reported exposures in returning Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans and the relationship of exposure reports to current physical symptoms. Methods: Using self-reports obtained immediately after return from deployment in a cohort of 760 enlisted Army reserve component military personnel, we assessed prevalence rates of environmental and other exposures and the association of these exposures to severity of physical symptoms. Results: Reporting of environmental exposures was relatively low in veterans of OEF/OIF, but reporting more environmental and other exposures, in particular screening positive for a traumatic brain injury, was related to greater physical symptom severity immediately after deployment. Conclusions: Non-treatment-seeking, enlisted Army reserve component personnel reported relatively few exposures immediately after return from deployment; however, more exposures was modestly associated with greater severity of physical symptoms when controlling for predeployment symptoms, gender, and other deployment-related exposures.