Structure of some diseases and health risks for people residing in surrounding areas previously contained herbicides/dioxin

During the war in Vietnam from 1961-1971, the US military used and sprayed nearly 80 million liters of herbicides in South Vietnam. Bien Hoa, Da Nang, and Phu Cat airports are herbicides repositories and hot spots for dioxin residues. The aim of this study was to examine the structure of some diseases and health risks of 1039 subjects residing around Da Nang, Bien Hoa, and Phu Cat airports (the ∑SG - study group) and 400 subjects residing in Son Tra district in Da Nang city - far from Da Nang airport (the ST - control group). The analysis results show that the prevalence of some relevant diseases related to herbicides/dioxin in the ∑SG group has a high percentage such as hypertension: 23.0-33.6 % (mean: 29.6 %), diabetes: 3.50-13.0 % (mean: 9.62 %) and other diseases: stomach: 23.6-37 % (mean: 26.3 %), joints: 34.6-40.3 % (mean: 37.8 %), ear-nose and throat: 9.5-17.4 % (mean: 15.5 %), kidney-urinary system: 4.5-7.2 % (mean: 6 %). These values were 1.5 to 9 times higher in the ∑SG group than in the ST group. The subjects who resided and worked around airports had elevated risks of the foregoing diseases. The structure of these diseases in both the ∑SG and the ST groups depends on sex and age, but the decisive factor depends on herbicides/dioxin exposure status. Thus, exposure to herbicides/dioxin has changed the disease pattern and increased some aspects of disease in people residing near areas where herbicides/dioxin was previously stored.