Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 1;64(8):629-634.
doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002551. Epub 2022 Jun 9.

Burn Pit Exposure Is Associated With Increased Sinonasal Disease

Christopher J Hill  1 , Charles D Meyer, James E McLean, Danielle C Anderson, Yajing Hao, Feng-Chang Lin, Adam J Kimple, Gregory G Capra
Affiliations

Burn Pit Exposure Is Associated With Increased Sinonasal Disease

Christopher J Hill et al. J Occup Environ Med. .

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether self-reported burn pit exposure is associated with increased subjective and objective sinus disease.

Design: A cross-sectional study was performed evaluating consecutive adult patients presenting to a US Military rhinology clinic. Demographics, medical histories, sinonasal quality-of-life scores, and nasal endoscopy examinations were obtained. Participants were divided into three cohorts based on self-reported exposure histories and outcomes compared.

Results: One hundred eighty-six patients met the inclusion criteria, the majority of whom were male. Patients with burn pit exposure had worse Sinonasal Outcome Test-22 scores (49.9) compared with those deployed without burn pit exposure (31.8) or never deployed (31.5). Endoscopic findings demonstrated worse disease within those exposed (Lund-Kennedy score, 3.3) compared with the other cohorts (1.8 and 1.7, respectively).

Conclusions: These novel findings suggest that deployment-related burn pit exposure is associated with increased subjective and objective sinus disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Funding/Conflicts of Interest: A.J.K., F.C.L., and Y.H. were supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through grant KL2TR002490 (A.J.K.) and UL1TR002489 (F.C.L. and Y.H.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. No other authors have funding or conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Burn Pit at Camp Taji, Iraq, 2010
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Comparison of Sinonasal Outcome Test-22 (SNOT-22) scores among three cohorts: Never Deployed (N=60), Deployed Without Exposure (N=72), Deployed With Exposure (N=54; error bars demonstrate 95% CI; ‘***’ p<.001).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Comparison of Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) score among three cohorts: Never Deployed (N=60), Deployed Without Exposure (N=72), Deployed With Exposure (N=54; error bars demonstrate 95% CI; ‘**’ p<.01).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Lund-Kennedy endoscopy scores comparing the three cohorts: Never Deployed (N=60), Deployed Without Exposure (N=72), and Deployed With Exposure. (N=54; error bars demonstrate 95% CI; ‘*’ p<.05, ‘**’ p<.01).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Connor EM, Zablotsky B. The association between air pollution and childhood asthma: United States, 2010–2015. The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma. 2021:1–16. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guarnieri M, Balmes JR. Outdoor air pollution and asthma. Lancet (London, England). 2014;383(9928):1581–1592. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tzivian L Outdoor air pollution and asthma in children. The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma. 2011;48(5):470–481. - PubMed
    1. Putman B, Zeig-Owens R, Singh A, et al. Risk factors for post-9/11 chronic rhinosinusitis in Fire Department of the City of New York workers. Occupational and environmental medicine. 2018;75(12):884–889. - PubMed
    1. Mady LJ, Schwarzbach HL, Moore JA, et al. Air pollutants may be environmental risk factors in chronic rhinosinusitis disease progression. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2018;8(3):377–384. - PubMed

Publication types