Cancer risk and mortality in UK Bosnia veterans V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cancer risk and mortality in a sample of UK service personnel deployed to Bosnia 1992-1996
IRAS ID
151260
Contact name
Nicola T. Fear
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Research summary
Are UK service personnel deployed to Bosnia between 1992 and 1996 at greater risk of developing cancer than other military personnel?
There has been much speculation that military personnel who served on UN peacekeeping duties in Bosnia have higher than expected rates of cancer. This speculation has been based on individual case reports and reports of some small clusters of leukaemia in Italian armed forces. It has been suggested that the allegedly higher rates of cancer are due to exposure to depleted uranium. Our study will determine whether the rates of cancer among personnel who served in Bosnia are higher than expected.
One of the comparison groups in an earlier study of the health consequences of the l990- 1991 Gulf War was a cohort of 4250 individuals who had served in Bosnia between 1992 and 1996. In 2006, our Bosnia sample was ‘flagged’ on the National Health Service Central Register and details of cancer registrations and deaths have been notified to us. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) hold cancer and death data for the entire 1990-1991 Gulf War cohort and a similar sized control group ("era group") who were serving at the time of the Gulf War.
For the current study we will ask the MOD to supply an anonymised dataset from their flagged “era” group containing information on age, sex, rank and cancer registrations and deaths. We will compare cancer registrations and deaths in the Bosnia group with this non-deployed group, controlling for age, sex and rank. By linking to data from our original study, we will assess whether risk of cancer is related to self-reported exposures to potentially harmful materials during deployment.
Reporting a negative finding will be reassuring to individuals who deployed to Bosnia. Reporting a positive finding, may have direct policy implications which may benefit Armed Forces personnel.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1141
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jun 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion