Background: US Vietnam War Blue Water Navy veterans (BWN) conducted military operations on Vietnam's offshore waters and likely experienced various war-related exposures. The overall health of the BWN has never been systematically studied.
Purpose: Describe and compare BWN's health with other servicemembers and non-veterans of the Vietnam era.
Materials and methods: Survey of 45 067 randomly selected US Vietnam War theatre and non-theatre veterans and 6885 non-veterans.
Results: For 22 646 male respondents, self-reported health was contrasted by veteran status defined as BWN (n=985), theatre veterans (n=6717), non-theatre veterans (n=10 698) and non-veterans (n=4246). Exposure was service in the Vietnam War theatre. Collected were demographics, military service characteristics, lifestyle factors and health conditions. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) were calculated using multivariable logistic regression. Controlling for cigarette smoking and other covariates, respiratory cancer risk was highest in BWN vs other veterans (theatre: aOR 1.65; 95% CI 1.09, 2.50; non-theatre: aOR 1.77; 1.13, 2.77) and to non-veterans (aOR 1.78; 1.15, 2.74). Other findings showed BWN's health risks between theatre and non-theatre veterans.
Conclusion: There was a higher risk for respiratory cancers in BWN. Other risks were less than theatre veterans but greater than non-theatre or non-veterans, indicating a potential role of military exposures in BWN's health.
Keywords: Blue Water Navy; Vietnam War; exposure; military; veterans.