Pereira Stacey, Apodaca Calvin, Slominski Kyle, Lipsky Rachele K, Coarfa Cristian, Walker Cheryl L, McGuire Amy L, Steele Lea, Helmer Drew A
Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77063, USA.
Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Mil Med. 2025 Jun 30;190(7-8):e1663-e1669. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usae454.
After the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act in 2022, there has been a great interest in studying toxic exposures encountered during military service. Development of epigenomic biomarkers for exposures could facilitate understanding of exposure-related health effects, but such testing could also provide unwanted information.
We explored attitudes toward epigenomic biomarker research and the potential to test for past exposures using semistructured interviews with Veterans (n = 22) who experienced potentially harmful exposures.
Twenty Veterans said they would hypothetically want to receive epigenomic information related to their toxic exposures and potential health impacts as part of a research study. Veterans identified 9 potential benefits, including promoting insights concerning intergenerational health, identification of early health interventions, and additional knowledge or explanation for their experiences. Sixteen participants noted potential risks, including psychological distress, receiving nonactionable, uncertain, or inaccurate results, and privacy and discrimination risks. Ten participants identified at least 1 condition in their children that they thought could be related to their exposure and most said they would be interested in receiving research results related to their children's and grandchildren's risk.
Results suggest that Veterans might welcome benefits of epigenomic research related to military exposures, yet have some concerns about potential negative impacts.
2022年《希思·罗宾逊上士履行我们解决综合毒物问题的承诺法案》（《解决综合毒物问题法案》）出台后，人们对研究军事服役期间接触毒物的情况产生了浓厚兴趣。开发用于检测毒物接触的表观基因组生物标志物有助于了解与接触相关的健康影响，但此类检测也可能提供不必要的信息。
我们通过对经历过潜在有害接触的退伍军人（n = 22）进行半结构化访谈，探讨了他们对表观基因组生物标志物研究的态度以及检测过去接触情况的可能性。
20名退伍军人表示，作为一项研究的一部分，他们假设希望获得与毒物接触及其潜在健康影响相关的表观基因组信息。退伍军人确定了9项潜在益处，包括增进对代际健康的认识、确定早期健康干预措施以及为他们的经历提供更多知识或解释。16名参与者指出了潜在风险，包括心理困扰、收到无法采取行动、不确定或不准确的结果以及隐私和歧视风险。10名参与者指出他们认为自己孩子身上至少有一种情况可能与他们的接触有关，大多数人表示他们有兴趣获得与子女和孙辈风险相关的研究结果。
结果表明，退伍军人可能欢迎与军事接触相关的表观基因组研究带来的益处，但对潜在的负面影响也有所担忧。
