Prevalence of gynecologic cancers among female Vietnam veterans.

Abstract

The possibility of a gender-specific health problem associated with the Vietnam War has been a concern since the war. We targeted 4140 female Vietnam veterans and 4140 veteran controls to complete a structured telephone interview that included questions regarding any history of gynecologic cancer. As a measure of association between the risk of cancer and military service in Vietnam, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using multiple logistic regression models that yielded estimates of potential cofounders. Although 8% of Vietnam veterans and 7.1% of non-Vietnam veterans reported a history of gynecologic cancers, namely, breast, ovary, uterus, or cervix, the difference was not statistically significant either for the individual site or for the gynecologic cancers as a group. Female Vietnam veterans have not experienced a higher prevalence of gynecologic cancer in the 30 years since the conflict.