Background: Mustard gas has different effects on different body systems such as respiratory tract, blood, gastrointestinal, skin, eye, endocrine and peripheral nervous system.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the quality of life in chemical warfare veterans due to sulfur mustard exposure.
Patients and methods: In a cross-sectional and analytic study, 242 patients who had a chemical injury during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1983) and their lung damage was proven were investigated in our study. The quality of life was measured in these patients using an extensively validated Iranian version of SF-36.
Results: The mean age of veterans was 44.12 ± 4.9 ranging from 22 to 62 years. Our results showed that chemical warfare had a decreased quality of life in all subscales of the SF-36. The lowest scores in SF-36 subscales were related to role physical and general health. The data also showed a significant relationship between the number of organs involved and the quality of life in these patients (P < 0.001, r = - 0.33). So that the patients who had more than three organs involved had lower quality of life. 95.4% of our participants experienced another complication with respiratory complication and the ophthalmologic complications were the most frequent accompanying condition.
Conclusions: The results imply that chemical warfare survivors suffering from late complications have a low health related quality of life.
Keywords: Chemical Warfare; Chronic Disease; Quality of Life; Veteran.