Results were obtained by questionnaires filled out by the mothers and results were given for all children aged 0-4 who died in 1994-1999. The Iraqi child and maternal mortality survey covered 46,956 births in Iraq from 1994-1999.
However, it seems that the findings in Fallujah may only reflect general deterioration in birth outcomes and child health in Iraq. Results showed levels of infant mortality of around live births in children, which can be compared with a figure of 17 in Jordan and 9 in Kuwait. Because of the lack of knowledge of the respondents in this questionnaire about the precise cause of death of their children, that study focused on infant mortality as an indicator of birth defects. In addition to the increased cancer and rates and infant deaths, the epidemiological study showed that there was a sudden significant drop in the sex ratio (an indicator of genetic stress) in the cohort born in 2005, one year after the battles which occurred in the city, suggesting that the cause of all these effects is related to the time of the US led invasion of the city in 2004. This spectrum of health conditions points to the existence of some historic exposure which has caused significant teratogenic, genetic or genomic stress to the population. There have been reports of increased rates of cancer and congenital anomaly (CA) from Fallujah, Iraq.
Results showed statistically significant presence of enriched Uranium with a mean of 129 with SD5.9 (for this determination, the natural Uranium 95% CI was 132.1 < Ratio < 144.1).
Soil sample Uranium isotope ratios were determined after extraction and concentration of the Uranium by ion exchange. Uranium traces detected in the soil samples and the hair showed slightly enriched isotopic signatures for hair U238/U235 = (135.16 SD 1.45) compared with the natural ratio of 137.88. In a separate study of a sub group of mothers with long hair to investigate historic Uranium excretion the results suggested that levels were much higher in the past. However it may be consistent with levels in drinking water (2.28 μgL -1) which had similar levels to water from wells (2.72 μgL -1) and the river Euphrates (2.24 μgL -1). Soil samples show low concentrations with a mean of 0.76 ppm (SD 0.42) and range 0.1-1.5 ppm (N = 18). Mean levels in Fallujah were also much higher than the mean of measurements reported from Japan, Brazil, Sweden and Slovenia (0.04 ppm SD 0.02). The highly unusual non-normal Fallujah distribution mean was significantly higher than literature results for a control population Southern Israel (0.062 ppm) and a non-parametric test (Mann Whitney-Wilcoxon) gave p = 0.016 for this comparison of the distribution. Mean levels for Uranium were 0.16 ppm (SD: 0.11) range 0.02 to 0.4, higher in mothers (0.18 ppm SD 0.09) than fathers (0.11 ppm SD 0.13). Of these only Hg can be considered as a possible cause of congenital anomaly. In high excess were Ca, Mg, Sr, Al, Bi and Hg. Levels of Ca, Mg, Co, Fe, Mn, V, Zn, Sr, Al, Ba, Bi, Ga, Pb, Hg, Pd and U (for mothers only) were significantly higher than published mean levels in an uncontaminated population in Sweden.
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