Trends in respiratory diagnoses and symptoms of firefighters exposed to the World Trade Center disaster: 2005-2010 [2011]

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cohen HW ; Gustave J ; Hall CB ; Kelly K ; Prezant DJ ; Weakley J ; Webber MP
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: To compare the prevalence of self-reported respiratory diagnoses in World Trade Center-exposed Fire Department of New York City firefighters to the prevalence in demographically similar National Health Interview Survey participants by year; and, 2) to describe the prevalence of World Trade Center-related symptoms up to 9 years post-9/11. METHODS: We analyzed 45,988 questionnaires completed by 10,999 firefighters from 10/2/2001 to 9/11/2010. For comparison of diagnosis rates, we calculated 95% confidence intervals around yearly firefighter prevalence estimates and generated odds ratios and confidence intervals to compare the odds of diagnoses in firefighters to the National Health Interview Survey prevalence, by smoking status. RESULTS: Overall, World Trade Center-exposed firefighters had higher respiratory diagnosis rates than the National Health Interview Survey; Fire Department of New York City rates also varied less by smoking status. In 2009, bronchitis rates in firefighters aged 45-65 were 13.3 in smokers versus 13.1 in never-smokers while in the National Health Interview Survey, bronchitis rates were doubled for smokers: 4.3 vs. 2.1. In serial cross-sectional analyses, the prevalence of most symptoms stabilized by 2005, at approximately 10% for cough to approximately 48% for sinus. CONCLUSIONS: We found generally higher rates of respiratory diagnoses in World Trade Center-exposed firefighters compared to US males, regardless of smoking status. This underscores the impact of World Trade Center exposure and the need for continued monitoring and treatment of this population. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Demography Emergency Responders Environmental Exposure Environmental Pollution Epidemiology Firefighters Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Promotion Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Smokers Surveys And Questionnaires

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• Keywords:
  Airway-obstruction Author Keywords: Disaster Medicine Bronchial-asthma Demographic-characteristics Emergency-responders Environmental-contamination Environmental-exposure Fire-fighters Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms GERS Health-care Health-programs Health-services Health-surveys Medical-monitoring Medical-screening National Health Interview Survey NHIS Questionnaires Rescue-workers Rescue Workers Respiratory-system-disorders Respiratory Diagnoses Respiratory Symptoms Smoking Surveillance-programs World Trade Center

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• ISSN:
  0091-7435
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; 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:
  364-369
• Volume:
  53
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040674
• Citation:
  Prev Med 2011 Dec; 53(6):364-369
• Contact Point Address:
  Mayris P. Webber, New York City Fire Department, Bureau of Health Services, 9 Metrotech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
• Email:
  webberm@fdny.nyc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Preventive Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:78136df72b41fc4aef9c78e070a9560b6e9c6240db6f1763510359826e181a71e126c3df48ce8d726e216ffc9df58955df04fc574285d3a41751a483a1587176
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193463/cdc_193463_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 515.38 KB ]