Summary

Study initiation

A key recommendation of the 1997 Mortality of Vietnam Veterans: The Veteran Cohort Study was to monitor the mortality of Vietnam veterans and repeat the study after 2000.  In 2002, the then Minister for Veterans' Affairs agreed that the Repatriation Commission should undertake the Third Vietnam Veterans Mortality Study and Cancer Incidence in Vietnam Veterans Study. The Commission asked the Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) to conduct these studies which were undertaken with assistance from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

This report is the last of four volumes published in this third series of studies on Vietnam veterans. The other volumes are:

  • Cancer Incidence in Australian Vietnam Veterans Study 2005;
  • The Third Australian Vietnam Veteran Mortality Study 2005; and
  • Australian National Service Vietnam Veterans: Mortality and Cancer Incidence.

Study objectives

The objective of this study was to analyse the effects of Dapsone, an anti-malarial drug used during the Vietnam War on the mortality and cancer incidence of Vietnam Veterans. This investigation adds to the study completed in 1992 by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare entitled Dapsone exposure, Vietnam service and cancer incidence.