Agent Orange Exposure Doubles Risk of Developing Dementia, Study Finds

A study of more than 300,000 Vietnam-era U.S. veterans in JAMA Neurology found that those exposed to Agent Orange are almost twice as likely to develop dementia as those who were not, reports Military.com . Investigators in the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System analyzed the medical records of thousands of veterans, uncovering a two-fold risk of dementia for those whose records indicated exposure. The University of California, San Francisco's Deborah Barnes said as time went on, 5 percent of veterans with a documented exposure to Agent Orange received a dementia diagnosis, compared with 2.5 percent of vets with no known exposure. "These veterans were still relatively young, so if the risk holds, we would expect that to increase as they age," she explained. Moreover, exposed vets were diagnosed an average of 15 months earlier than non-exposed vets — which Barnes said can have major implications for former personnel, their families, and society overall. "Studies have found if we could delay the onset of dementia by a year or 15 months, it would have a huge impact on the population prevalence over time," she noted.