Tele-Exercise for MERP

Overview

During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Veterans in combat were exposed to a variety of airborne hazards, including oil well fire smoke, emissions from burn pits, and other substances associated with negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular and pulmonary disease and cancer. More than 40% of Veterans enrolled in the VA's Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry (AHOBPR) report functional limitations, such as difficulty running short distances. Veterans with burn pit exposures will benefit from physical activity interventions designed to improve functional ability and overall quality of life. Veterans with significant exposure to burn pits during their overseas military service will have a detailed documentation of their limitations and participate in either a 12-week coach-led tele-exercise intervention or standard of care. This project is designed to improve functional mobility and could be implemented for Veterans with burn pit exposure.

The most ubiquitous air born hazards resulting from recent conflicts is likely emissions from burn pits used for slow disposal of a variety of wastes, including plastics, petroleum products, metal, rubber, medical waste, and human waste. Burn pits have been used as a waste disposal practice by the United States military for several decades but were more prominent and widespread in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The burning of these wastes produces toxins that have been demonstrated to produce toxicity in animal and human models and to increase the risk of cardiopulmonary disease in large, population-based studies of Veterans. These include small particulate matter (PM2,5), airborne metal particles, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and specific byproducts of burnt petroleum products, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The long-term health effects of exposure to these toxins are incompletely understood, and the subject of intense research. Increased incidence of cardiopulmonary disease is a major concern in exposed Veterans, with an increased risk of systemic hypertension, COPD, and asthma, all having been recently reported based on a large analysis of Veteran records. Dyspnea is a core symptom linking the pleotropic health effects associated with airborne hazards exposure. A recent study of nearly 2,000 Veterans demonstrated associations between dyspnea and burn pit exposure and exposure to military dusts, gases, and fumes, as well as associations between burn pit exposure and chronic bronchitis. Among participants in the large-scale Millennium Cohort Study, Veterans who had been deployed reported shortness of breath more frequently than those who were not deployed. As a result, a federally chartered multisite program, the Post-Deployment Cardiopulmonary Evaluation Network (PDCEN), was created specifically to evaluate the causes of underlying exercise intolerance and dyspnea in this group. While this program self-selects for deployed Veterans with symptoms, the magnitude of exercise intolerance in this group is marked. The investigators hypothesize that Veterans within the VA's Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry (AHOBPR) have poor physical function and mobility, and high levels of dyspnea and fatigue. The investigator's global hypothesis is that exercise rehabilitation will improve functional mobility and reduce dyspnea and fatigue in Veterans with military burn pit exposure.