Tainted water at Camp Lejeune tied to faster Parkinson’s progression
Risk more than twice as high for exposed Marine, Navy personnel at base
U.S. Marine Corps and Navy personnel exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and other industrial chemicals in drinking water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina face greater than twice the risk of experiencing accelerated Parkinson’s disease progression than individuals who were not exposed, a new study found.
These findings add to those from a study published last year that showed that service members who lived at Camp Lejeune had a 70% higher risk of Parkinson’s compared with those stationed at a military base in California where the drinking water was not contaminated. That study noted contamination from the Marine Corps base — where TCE levels were as much as 70 times higher than that currently considered acceptable — dated as far back as the 1950s.
Now, the researchers here concluded that “[Parkinson’s] progression may be faster in persons exposed to trichloroethylene and other [contaminents] in water [at the base] decades earlier.”
The study, “Parkinson’s Disease Progression and Exposure to Contaminated Water at Camp Lejeune,” was published in the journal Movement Disorders. It was funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Psychosis, fall hazards higher for veterans exposed to Camp Lejeune water
What exactly causes Parkinson’s remains unclear, but it is nonetheless well understood that a number of environmental factors, such as breathing in or having close contact with toxic chemicals, may increase the risk of developing the disease.
Now, a team of U.S. researchers sought to understand if Parkinson’s was more likely to progress faster among Marine and Navy personnel exposed to TCE and other industrial chemicals, called volatile organic compounds, detected in their drinking water.
To that end, the researchers tracked 84,824 veterans who had lived at Camp Lejeune between 1975 and 1985 — the decade of maximum contamination — using data from Veterans Health Administration or Medicare healthcare services. These military personnel were resident at the base for a median of 25 months, or just longer than two years. Those who went on to develop Parkinson’s were identified using health databases.
Between 2000 and 2021, 270 individuals were diagnosed with Parkinson’s, at a mean age of 55.3. Nearly all (96.3%) were men and most (84.1%) were white individuals. According to registry data, 177 (65.6%) were exposed to volatile organic compounds at levels more than 50 times higher than the permissible level.
“Although other compounds were present, the environmentally ubiquitous solvent TCE was by far the major contaminant,” the researchers wrote. Other compounds that leached into water included tetrachloroethylene (PCE), vinyl chloride, and benzene.
In addition to motor symptoms, Parkinson’s also causes a range of nonmotor symptoms, including problems with mental health. For service members who were exposed to volatile organic compounds, the time until psychosis was shorter compared with those who were not.
The hazards of psychosis, fall, and fracture were all twice as high in former Camp Lejeune residents with [Parkinson’s] who had been exposed to organic solvents in their residential water supply 40 years prior than in those who were not residentially exposed.
Time until experiencing a fall or fracture also was shorter for those who were exposed to volatile organic compounds. Both falls and fractures were more than twice as likely to occur in service members who were exposed than in those who were not.
“The hazards of psychosis, fall, and fracture were all twice as high in former Camp Lejeune residents with [Parkinson’s] who had been exposed to organic solvents in their residential water supply 40 years prior than in those who were not residentially exposed,” the researchers wrote.
The study links prior exposure to TCE and other industrial chemicals in drinking water to Parkinson’s progression, and suggests that environmental factors may help explain why the disease manifests in unique ways for each individual.
According to the researchers, “this is the first study to assess correlates of [Parkinson’s] clinical symptom progression associated with prior exposure to [volatile organic compounds] in drinking water.”
About the Author
