9/11 survivors face higher risk of heart and lung problems

Survivors of the attacks on theWorld Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001 andfirst responders who were on the scene that day may have anincreased risk for heart and lung diseases, a new studysuggests.

The World Trade Center attack exposed thousands of people tointense concentrations of hazardous materials that have resultedin reports of increased levels of asthma, heart disease,diabetes and other chronic physical and psychological disorders,researchers note in the journal Injury Epidemiology.

For the current study, researchers examined data on 8,701people who were at the World Trade Center site on the day of theattacks and didn't have asthma, diabetes or heart and lungdiseases.

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After up to 11 years of follow-up, people injured that daywere at least twice as likely to develop heart disease as peoplewho didn't sustain injuries, the study found. Dust and debrisexposure was associated with 30 per cent higher odds ofdeveloping asthma and lung diseases, the study also found.

"This study is unique in that it focuses on responders andsurvivors who had intense exposure to environmental pollutionand trauma on 9/11/2001 in New York City, but not afterwards,"said senior study author Dr. Robert Brackbill of the World TradeCenter Health Registry and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in an email to Reuters.

"The main implication of these findings is that intenseexposure on the first day of the disaster can by itself increasethe risk of developing chronic conditions,"Brackbill said.

Researchers examined data on 8,701 people in the WTC HealthRegistry, which monitors the physical and mental health of71,431 individuals exposed to the attacks. The current studyincluded people with the most exposure to injuries andcontaminated air that day: 7,503 area workers, 249 rescueworkers, 131 residents and 818 people on the surroundingstreets.

Dust exposure alone not tied to asthma risk

Overall, 41 per cent of the people in the study had intenseexposure to the dust cloud on 9/11, 10 per cent had a singleinjury, twoper cent had two injuries and oneper cent had three ormore injuries.

Over the next decade, 92 people developed heart disease, 327 werediagnosed with diabetes, 308 had a new asthma diagnosis, and297 developed lung diseases that didn't involve tumours.

When people had multiple injuries, such as fractures, headinjuries or sprains, their risk of having chest pains or a heartattack was higher than when they only had one type of injury, the study also found.

Dust exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder and being arescue worker, as well as current smoking were associated with ahigher risk of developing lung diseases that were not cancer orasthma.

Dust exposure on its own, however, wasn't associated with anincreased risk of asthma.

Limitations of the study include the high proportion ofparticipants who dropped out over time, the authors note.

Researchers also lacked data on the severity of injuries or howpeople were treated.

"While law enforcement and firefighters may be used todisasters, certainly this was an unprecedented disaster even fortrained people," said Dr. Iris Udasin, director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute atRutgers University in New Jersey.

"Onelesson that we learned is that people shouldn't rushinto a disaster without proper training and equipment," Udasin,who wasn't involved in the study, said by email. "There are anumber of volunteers that wanted to help and ended up gettingsick from their exposures."