ASH: Agent Orange Exposure Linked to Increased Risk for Myelodysplastic Syndrome

TUESDAY, Dec. 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Agent orange (AO) exposure is associated with an increased risk for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, held from Dec. 6 to 9 in Orlando, Florida.

Mikkael Sekeres, M.D., from the Sylvester Cancer Center at the University of Miami Health System, and colleagues studied AO as a risk factor for MDS using the prospective National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute National MDS Natural History Study involving patients with suspected or recently diagnosed MDS.

The researchers found that 1,191 (56 percent) of 2,115 enrolled patients had a myeloid malignancy or precursor condition and 130 (6.1 percent) reported AO exposure (96 percent male). In multivariate regression analyses, a significantly higher risk for AO exposure was seen for the 1945 to 1954 birth cohort, among those with military service, and for Blacks versus Whites (odds ratios, 10.3, 24.1, and 2.6, respectively). The crude risk for AO exposure trended higher for patients with MDS versus those with idiopathic cytopenia of undetermined significance, but this finding was not significant. There was a trend for AO exposure with younger age at MDS diagnosis and with a prior primary malignancy. AO exposure was significantly associated with increased numbers of pathogenic variants in 53 genes (odds ratio, 1.2); those with AO exposure had a higher risk for disease progression in the two years following diagnosis (hazard ratio, 1.9).

“Veterans have been waiting a long time for someone to take this seriously,” Sekeres said in a statement. “If our work can move the needle even a little, that feels incredibly meaningful.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

Abstract

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