Assessment of fertility among mustard-exposed residents of Sardasht, Iran: a historical Cohort study
Section snippets
Introduction:
Sulfur mustard [bis(2-chloro-ethyl) sulfide], designated HD and often referred to as mustard gas, is one of a class of chemical weapons known as “blister agents” that has seen wide tactical employment against military targets and has also been used by Iraqi forces during the Iran–Iraq war of the 1980s to terrorize civilian populations in both combatant nations. The acute and long-term effects of HD exposure have been studied extensively [1]. At the time of this writing, however, comparativley
Subjects
Subjects for this study were recruited from surviving residents of Sardasht who sustained exposure to sulfur mustard during the 1987 attack. Documents maintained by military and civil authorities in the Sardasht region confirm that approximately 4500 people in total were exposed to mustard agent as a result of the incident. Of these, records confirming early clinical manifestations of exposure and subsequent medical complications were available for 735 survivors. Demographic information on all
Results
The 115 couples participating in this study were evaluated for exposure to mustard based on gender and time of marriage relative to the attack of June 1987. When ratios of mustard-exposed to non-exposed subjects and their gender distribution were considered it was seen that in 88 of these cases only one partner had been exposed. In the remaining 27 couples both partners sustained exposure to the agent. Of the 230 individual participants, 142 were mustard-exposed; 96 (68%) of these male and 46
Discussion
In this report we describe reproductive trends among a population exposed to sulfur mustard, a lipophilic alkylating agent used extensively in the war between Iran and Iraq during the 1980s, against both Iranian combatants and its civil population, particularly in the border areas [7]. Previous investigations have established correlation between exposure to alkylating agents and infertility [8], [9], [10], [11]. Hence, we hypothesized that the1987 chemical attack by Iraqi forces on Sardasht
References (14)
- et al.
A 50 year mortality follow-up study of veterans exposed to low level chemical warfare agent
Mustard Gas. AEP J.
(2000) - et al.
Public health status of the civil population of Sardasht 15 years following large-scale wartime exposure to sulfur mustard
J. Burns Surg. Wound Care [Serial Online]
(2003) - McNamara BP, Owens EJ, Christensen MK, Vocei FJ, Ford DF, Rozimarek N. Toxicological basis for controlling levels of...
- (a) Hackett PL, Rommereim RL, Burton FG, Suschbom RI, Sasser LB. Teratology studies on Lewisite and sulfur mustard... et al.
Two-generation reproduction study of sulfur mustard in rats
Reprod. Toxicol.
(1996) - (a) Khateri S, Ghanei M, Soroush MR, Haines D. Effects of mustard gas exposure in pediatric patients: long-term health...(b) Khateri S, Ghanei M, Keshavarz S, Soroush M, Haines D. Incidence of lung, eye and skin lesions as late...
- Norusis MJ/SPSS Inc. SPSS for Windows. Release 5.0 Chicago, IL (Ed.), SPSS Inc.,...
- Reports of specialists appointed by the Secretary General to investigate allegations by the Islamic Republic of Iran...