Reconstructing exposures from the UK chemical warfare agent human research programmele
Reconstructing exposures from the UK chemical warfare agent human research programmele
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DOI：
10.1093/annhyg/mem017
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发表时间：
2007-07-01
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Venables, K. M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Keegan, T. J.;Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J.;Venables, K. M.
自第一次世界大战以来，英国政府在威尔特郡波顿当的一个设施中开展了一项研究计划，研究化学战条件下的军事能力。2001年，国防部委托进行了一项队列研究，调查参加该方案对退伍军人健康的长期影响。出于本研究的目的，我们评估了Porton Down档案室中保存的暴露评估数据的可用性和质量。这涉及详细查看150名退伍军人样本中的暴露数据，并对档案中所有可用记录进行一般性审查。这些资料来源表明，波顿唐的记录基本上是完整的，包括足够的识别信息，可以与服务人员数据以及全国死亡率和癌症登记记录联系起来。军人通常有多个测试，因此数据最容易以测试方式获得，允许随后按个人汇总测试。对于大多数测试来说，每项测试中使用的化学品的名称都可以确定，而且大多数命名的化学品都可以归类为主要类别，以供流行病学分析。对于主要类别（起疱剂和神经毒剂），有关于接触和急性毒性的定量数据。所使用的几种不同的单位需要标准化。根据这项研究，对Porton Down退伍军人队列研究的暴露评估将涉及提取每项试验中使用的化学品名称，以及关于起泡剂和神经毒剂暴露和急性毒性的定量数据。我们的研究结果表明，在Porton Down的实验记录提供了一个独特的和宝贵的资源，用于重建本研究计划中使用的化学品暴露。由此产生的队列研究有可能提供信息，这将有助于了解化学战剂暴露对这些退伍军人的长期健康影响。
The UK government has carried out a research programme studying military capability under conditions of chemical warfare at a facility at Porton Down, Wiltshire, since World War I. In 2001 the Ministry of Defence commissioned a cohort study to investigate the long-term health effects on military veterans of their participation in this programme. We assessed the availability and quality of exposure assessment data held in the archive at Porton Down for the purpose of this study. This involved looking in detail at exposure data in a sample of 150 veterans and undertaking a general review of all available records held in the archive. These sources suggested that the Porton Down records were largely complete and included sufficient identifying information for linkage with service personnel data and with national mortality and cancer registration records. Servicemen usually had multiple tests so data were most readily available in a test-wise format, allowing subsequent aggregation of tests by individual. The name of the chemical used in each test could be determined for most tests and most of the named chemicals could be categorized into major groups for epidemiological analyses. For the major groups (vesicants and nerve agents), quantitative data were available on exposure and on acute toxicity. Standardization will be required of the several different units which were used. Based on this study, exposure assessment for the cohort study of Porton Down veterans will involve abstraction of the name of the chemical used in each test, with quantitative data on exposure and acute toxicity for vesicants and nerve agents. Our results here show that experimental records at Porton Down offer a unique and valuable resource for reconstructing the chemical exposures used in this research programme. The resulting cohort study has the potential to provide information which will assist in understanding the long-term health impact of chemical warfare agent exposure on these veterans.