Comparison of health outcomes among affiliated and lay disaster volunteers enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brackbill RM ; Cone, James E. ; Debchoudhury I ; Fairclough MA ; Farfel MR ; Stellman SD ; Welch AE
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Volunteers (non-professional rescue/recovery workers) are universally present at man-made and natural disasters and share experiences and exposures with victims. Little is known of their disaster-related health outcomes. METHODS: We studied 4974 adult volunteers who completed the World Trade Center Health Registry 2006-07 survey to examine associations between volunteer type (affiliated vs. lay) and probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); new or worsening respiratory symptoms; post-9/11 first diagnosis of anxiety disorder, depression, and/or PTSD; and asthma or reactive airway dysfunction syndrome (RADS). Affiliated volunteers reported membership in a recognized organization. Lay volunteers reported no organizational affiliation and occupations unrelated to rescue/recovery work. Adjusted odds ratios (OR(adj)) were calculated using multinomial regression. RESULTS: Lay volunteers were more likely than affiliated volunteers to have been present in lower Manhattan, experience the dust cloud, horrific events and injury on 9/11 and subsequently to report unmet healthcare needs. They had greater odds of early post-9/11 mental health diagnosis (OR(adj) 1.6; 95% CI: 1.4-2.0) and asthma/RADS (1.8; 1.2-2.7), chronic PTSD (2.2; 1.7-2.8), late-onset PTSD (1.9; 1.5-2.5), and new or worsening lower respiratory symptoms (2.0; 1.8-2.4). CONCLUSIONS: Lay volunteers' poorer health outcomes reflect earlier, more intense exposure to and lack of protection from physical and psychological hazards. There is a need to limit volunteers' exposures during and after disasters, as well as to provide timely screening and health care post-disaster. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Emergency Responders Environmental Exposure Environmental Pollution Epidemiology Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Promotion Inhalation Exposure Mental Health Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Stress, Psychological Surveys And Questionnaires

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• Keywords:
  Affiliated Volunteers Airway-obstruction Author Keywords: Volunteers Bronchial-asthma Disaster Emergency-responders Environmental-contamination Environmental-exposure Health-care Health-programs Health-services Health-surveys Inhalants Lay Volunteers Medical-screening Medical-services Mental-stress Physical Health Physiological-stress Psychological-stress Rescue-workers Rescue And Recovery Respiratory-system-disorders September 11th Stress Surveillance-programs World Trade Center

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• ISSN:
  0091-7435
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  359-363
• Volume:
  53
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040673
• Citation:
  Prev Med 2011 Dec; 53(6):359-363
• Contact Point Address:
  Indira Debchoudhury, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, 2 Gotham Center, 42-09 28th Street, 7th Floor, Queens, NY 11101, USA
• Email:
  idebchou@health.nyc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Performing Organization:
  New York City Health/Mental Hygiene
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090430
• Source Full Name:
  Preventive Medicine
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:325396830614cb59078c8c6246c5bdc2717709ca979fed3848d2f5fc3159532319cd05040693b1c22d0c3754c0c697d568568dc7c583900f9cb06a0ed4a0c07a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193462/cdc_193462_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 182.60 KB ]