EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, September 16, 2026
Blast exposure in military associated with conditions like seizures, stroke years later
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2026
Highlights:
- Exposure to high-level blasts among military veterans is associated with an increased risk of conditions such as seizures, neuropathy and stroke years later.
- The study does not prove that exposure to blasts causes these conditions; it only shows an association.
- The study involved 36,641 veterans who had received care at the Veterans Health Administration.
- The findings support monitoring people with high-level blast exposure for the development of cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and other conditions, according to the study author.
MINNEAPOLIS — Exposure to high-level blasts from incoming
explosive devices or land mines among military veterans is associated with an
increased risk of several conditions such as seizures, neuropathy and stroke
years later, according to a study published September
16, 2026, in Neurology®, the medical
journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study does not prove that exposure to blasts causes these conditions; it
only shows an association.
“Blast exposure is often viewed through the lens of acute
injury and brain health, but our findings reinforce that blast exposure is a
whole-body problem with health implications that extend well beyond the time of
exposure,” said study author Sarah L. Martindale, PhD, of the Salisbury VA
Health Care System in North Carolina. “In this study, veterans with a history
of high-level blast exposure were more likely to be diagnosed with a range of
neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, and metabolic conditions years
later.”
The study involved 36,641 veterans who received care at the
Veterans Health Administration for at least two years during the study after
leaving military service. The participants completed a survey on exposure to
blasts and then were followed for up to 10 years. The researchers also looked
at participants’ occupations to determine exposure to low-level blasts from
outgoing munitions such as heavy artillery or shoulder-fired weapons.
A total of 11% of participants reported exposure to at least
one high-level blast and 17% were in an occupation with a high risk of
low-level blasts. About 5% had both exposures.
Researchers found that exposure to high-level blasts was
associated with increased likelihood of many conditions, including hepatitis B
and C, seizures, diabetes, stroke, neuropathy, high cholesterol and the lung
diseases chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
For seizures, 3.92% of veterans reported exposure to
high-level blasts compared to 1.88% of those with no blast exposure. For
neuropathy, prevalence was 11.41% of those with exposure compared to 7.75% of
those who did not report blast exposure. For stroke, 2.03% of veterans exposed
to high-level blasts compared to 1.62% of those with no exposure.
Once researchers adjusted for other factors that could
affect the prevalence of these conditions, such as age, sex and total number of
days deployed, they found that veterans with high-level blast exposure were 79%
more likely to have a seizure diagnosis, 38% more likely to be diagnosed with
neuropathy and 35% more likely to have a stroke diagnosis..
For low-level blast exposure, researchers found that service
members were less likely to be diagnosed with conditions such as diabetes, high
cholesterol and Crohn’s disease. However, Martindale noted that several factors
could have affected these findings, including that many of the participants
were relatively young at the start of the study and the follow-up period may
not have been long enough for conditions to develop. She said the absence of elevated
risk from low-level exposure in this study should not be interpreted as
evidence that low-level exposure to blasts has no long-term physical health
consequences.
“Understanding a veteran’s history of blast exposure may
give us another piece of the puzzle when considering their long-term health
risks and how those risks should be monitored over time,” Martindale said.
A limitation of the study was that exposure to high-level
blasts was reported by participants and no information was available about the
intensity of the blast, type and severity of injuries or treatment. Also,
information on diagnosis of conditions was limited to cases documented through
the VA health care system after the survey. Diagnoses occurring before the
start of the study or outside the VA system were not captured.
The study was supported by the
Salisbury VA Health Care System, Naval Health Research Center, VA Puget Sound
Health Care System and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of
Military Medicine.
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