FORT SAM HOUSTON, TX — Unlike many types of cancer which affect older adults, classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL) commonly affects adolescents and young adults (AYA), including military servicemembers.
How deployment affects CHL outcomes has remained unknown, which prompted the current study led by Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, TX, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation in Rockville, MD, the University of California, Irvine; the VA Long Beach, CA, Healthcare System and the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH.
The researchers identified TRICARE beneficiaries diagnosed with CHL from 2001 to 2022 through the DoD cancer registry. Deployment history came from the Defense Manpower Data Center, and mortality data came from the National Death Index.
The study team compared mortality between servicemembers with and without post-9/11 deployment, evaluating associations with deployment-specific variables. It also conducted an exploratory analysis to assess the survival of AYA military personnel by race and to compare mortality with the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.
Among 752 SMs identified, 369 (49%) had deployed after 9/11. Results found that deployment was not associated with overall mortality (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 1.64; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.84-3.19) or disease-specific mortality (aHR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.13-3.55). “No deployment-specific variable meaningfully influenced mortality,” the authors advised.
Reporting in Cancer Research Communications, the study found 21 out of 417 (5%) all-cause deaths in white AYA servicemembers compared with 0 out of 89 in a similar cohort of Black servicemembers (log-rank test P = 0.0198). Compared with SEER, servicemembers had lower all-cause mortality (aHR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.38-0.72) and disease-specific mortality (aHR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.15-0.59). Post-9/11 deployment did not adversely affect survival among the young CHL patients.1
The researchers said their study highlighted “the need for exposure-specific and survivorship-focused research. Survival disparities by race were not appreciated, and mortality in SMs was lower than SEER, highlighting access to care within the Military Health System (MHS) and the healthy soldier effect.”
They concluded, “In this national cohort of 752 U.S. SMs with CHL, post-9/11 deployment and deployment-related variables did not adversely affect overall or disease-specific survival. These findings suggest that deployment exposures or occupational demands do not meaningfully alter CHL outcomes. Lower mortality compared with SEER underscores the healthy soldier effect and highlights the advantages of universal access to timely, coordinated cancer care within the MHS.”
- Gibson S, Darmon S, Cozen W, Ma H, Rendo M, Fenderson JL, Aden J, Morris M, DeStefano CB. Survival of U.S. Military Service Members with Hodgkin Lymphoma by Post-9/11 Deployment Status. Cancer Res Commun. 2026 Aug 1;6(8):1976-1982. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-26-0220. PMID: 42574494; PMCID: PMC13494367