Researchers analyzed data from over 48,000 deployed veterans and matched them with non-deployed peers from the Veterans Affairs Corporate Data Warehouse, ensuring participants had no prior history of the studied conditions.

The deployment cohort’s median age at service was about 26.7 years, with the group predominantly male (84%) and White (75%).

Each deployed veteran was paired with a comparable non-deployed veteran by age, sex, race, and ethnicity to enable a balanced comparison.

The lead author and team stress a need for long-term health surveillance, specialized care, and preventive strategies for OIF and OEF veterans.

The study’s lead author, Patrick Gleeson, MD, notes the potential long-term impact of these exposures on veterans’ quality of life.

Exposure-related factors during deployment, including burn pits and dust storms, are cited as potential contributors to long-term respiratory health effects.

Compared with non-deployed peers, deployed veterans show markedly higher risks for asthma (+55%), chronic rhinitis (+41%), chronic rhinosinusitis (+27%), and nasal polyposis (+48%).

Veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom face a higher risk of several chronic respiratory conditions in the decade after deployment, a finding presented at the 2025 ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando and published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.