Biological monitoring and surveillance results of Gulf War I veterans exposed to depleted uranium

Abstract

Persistent urine uranium elevations continue to be observed more than 12 years since first exposure. Despite this, renal and other clinical abnormalities were not observed, likely due to the 'relatively' low uranium burden in this cohort compared to historical uranium-exposed occupational groups. Continuing surveillance is indicated, however, due to the on-going nature of the exposure. These results are an important finding in light of the on-going controversy regarding health effects observed in soldiers of the Gulf War and other conflicts, whose uranium exposure assessment is unable to be accurately determined.

Determination of 236U/238U and 235U/238U isotope ratios in human urine by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

“…Isotope ratio analysis of urinary uranium is challenging due to ultra-trace uranium concentrations (median urinary uranium measured in our lab is 5 ng L −1 (N = 3364)) [9,[23][24][25] and urine's complex matrix (Na, Mg, K, Ca, P, Cl, S, and dissolved organic materials). Other successful methods have been primarily developed for samples with elevated and/or spiked uranium concentrations [23,26] and have focused on the 235 U/ 238 U ratio.…”

“…Analysis of urinary uranium has been commonly used as a non-invasive test [4,9,10] to monitor occupational and/or environmental exposure to depleted uranium. The determination is done via a two-step process [11] (Fig.…”

“…The determination is done via a two-step process [11] (Fig. 1): 1) analysis of total uranium concentration in urine; 2) if the urinary uranium is above a pre-set level, measurement of uranium isotope ratios is conducted [8,9], with a 235 U/ 238 U ≈ 0.002 indicative of exposure to DU.…”

Estimating perchlorate exposure from food and tap water based on US biomonitoring and occurrence data

“…In a much larger study of 446 Gulf War veterans who were concerned about past exposure to DU, the geometric mean urinary uranium concentration was 0.011 μg/L . Follow up of 32 veterans with embedded shrapnel showed that increased urinary uranium levels persisted more than 12 years after the first exposure (McDiarmid et al, 2006). Six workers in a depleted uranium program showed concentrations of 0.110 to 45 μg/L (Ejnik et al, 2000).…”

Depleted uranium exposure and health effects in Gulf War veterans

“…This observation of a higher excretion of this low molecular weight protein is biologically plausible, as U can exert an inhibitory effect on protein reabsorption by renal proximal tubule cells. We are following this RBP observation carefully, as a potential 'sentinel' marker of proximal tubular effects from U (McDiarmid et al 2006;Squibb et al 2005).…”