Sarin exposure, mortality and cancer incidence in UK military veterans involved in human experiments at Porton Down: 52-year follow-up
该研究追踪了52年，发现参与沙林人体实验的英国退伍军人全因死亡率略高，尤其是酒精相关死亡和某些循环系统疾病死亡风险增加，但总体癌症发病率未显著升高。
Objectives We investigated whether UK military personnel exposed to sarin during the ‘Service Volunteer Programme’ at Porton Down had increased rates of mortality or cancer incidence over a 52-year follow-up. Methods A historical cohort study assembled from UK military records, comprising male veterans exposed to sarin during the ‘Service Volunteer Programme’ at Porton Down, UK (n=2975) and a comparison group of similar veterans who did not attend (n=2919). Mortality and cancer incidence data were obtained from national registries up to December 2019. Analysis was conducted using Cox regression adjusted for age, year of birth and service characteristics. Results Over a median follow-up of 52.2 years (range 2 days to 74.6 years), 1598 (53.7%) sarin-exposed veterans and 1583 (54.3%) non-exposed veterans died. Adjusted HRs for all-cause mortality were raised for any sarin exposure (HR=1.08, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.16), two or more exposures (HR=1.25, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.49) and higher doses (air >15 mg.min/m 3 ) (HR=1.15, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.30). For cause-specific mortality, sarin exposure was associated with deaths from ‘other’ circulatory diseases (excludes ischaemic and cerebrovascular diseases) (HR=1.41, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.87) and alcohol-attributable deaths (HR=2.66, 95% CI 1.40 to 5.07). There was no association between sarin exposure and overall cancer incidence (HR=1.01, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.10), but cancer incidence was higher for alcohol-related neoplasms (HR=1.24, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.51). Conclusions Sarin exposure was associated with increased rates of mortality over a 50-year follow-up. The strongest associations were observed for deaths attributable to alcohol and ‘other’ circulatory diseases.