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Asthma Plagues World Trade Center Responders
Reported November 09, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Responders to the 2001 World Trade Center (WTC)
terrorist attacks who were exposed to caustic dust and toxic pollutants
following the 9/11 disaster now suffer from asthma at a rate more than twice
that of the general population.
As many as 8 percent of the workers and volunteers who engaged in rescue and
recovery, essential service restoration and cleanup efforts in the wake of
9/11 reported experiencing post-9/11 asthma attacks, compared with 4 percent
of the general population. The lifetime prevalence of asthma in WTC
responders was marked by a dramatic increase from 3 percent pre-9/11 to 16
percent in each of the years between 2005 and 2007.
"Although previous WTC studies have shown significant respiratory problems,
this is the first study to directly quantify the magnitude of asthma among
WTC responders compared with the general US population," Hyun Kim, Sc.D.,
Instructor of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New
York and lead author of the analysis, was quoted as saying. "Six years out
from 9/11, the World Trade Center Program was still observing responders
affected by asthma episodes and attacks at more than double the percentage
of people not exposed to World Trade Center dust."
In the general population, the prevalence of asthma episodes in the previous
12 months remained relatively constant at slightly less than 4 percent in
the period from 2000 to 2007. Among WTC responders, however, while fewer
than 1 percent recalled asthma attacks during the year 2000, that percentage
increased to 8 percent and remained constant through the period from 2005 to
2007. WTC responders were 2.3 times more likely than the general population
to report asthma attacks during the previous 12 months. Additionally, the
increase in lifetime prevalence of asthma among responders grew from a
reported 3 percent for pre-9/11 diagnoses to 13 percent in 2002. The
lifetime prevalence of asthma subsequently rose through the years to plateau
at 16 percent from 2005 through 2007.
"It is important to note that this report focused on findings from baseline
or initial visit examinations," Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., M.Sc., Ethel H.
Wise Professor and Chair of MSSM's Department of Preventive Medicine and
principal investigator of the WTC Program Data and Coordination Center, was
quoted as saying. "Where the data shows an increasing percentage of
responders reporting asthmatic episodes, rising to double that seen in the
general population, it is clearly vital that we continue to track
responders' health and look further into the medical outcomes of this
population."
SOURCE: Presented at the annual scientific assembly of the American College
of Chest Physicians (ACCP), November 3, 2009 |
