Conducting a Study to Assess the Long-Term Impacts of Injury After 9/11: Participation, Recall, and Description

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brackbill RM ; Frazier P ; Gargano LM ; Jacobson MH
• Description:
  Background: The World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on September 11, 2001 (9/11) resulted in over 2700 fatalities and thousands injured. Injury on 9/11 has been identified as a risk factor for physical and mental health conditions, but the reasons for this are not well understood. In a population exposed to 9/11 and since followed, an in-depth study on the impacts of injury on 9/11 was conducted to identify factors that contribute to long-term functional issues. This report sought to examine factors influencing participation, participant recall of injury status over time, and determinants of injury severity. Methods: Enrollees from the World Trade Center Health Registry who completed all surveys between 2003 and 2016 and initially reported being injured (N = 2699) as well as a sample of non-injured (N = 2598) were considered to be eligible for the Health and Quality of Life 15 Years after 9/11 (HQoL) Study. Predictors of study non-participation and inconsistent recall of injury over time (i.e., discrepant reports) were identified through fitting log binomial models. Results: Participation rates were high overall (76.1%) and did not vary by initially reported injury status, although younger (vs. older), non-White (vs. White), and less educated (vs. more educated) enrollees were less likely to participate in the HQoL Study. Discrepant reporting of 9/11 injury status was much more common among enrollees who initially reported being injured on 9/11 (49.6%) compared with those who did not (7.3%). However, those who incurred more severe injuries on 9/11 were less likely to have discrepant reporting over time compared with those with more minor injuries (broken bone vs. sprain: risk ratio = 0.33, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.19, 0.57). Among those who consistently reported that they were injured on 9/11, most injuries occurred as a result of descending down stairs (31.5%) or by tripping and falling (19.9%); although being hit by a falling object was most often associated with high severity injuries (63.2%) compared with other modes of injury. Conclusions: These findings highlight the methodological issues involved in conducting a study on the long-term impact of injury more than a decade after the initial incident and may be relevant to future investigators. Factors affecting participation rates, such as demographic characteristics, and those related to discrepant reporting over time, such as injury severity, may affect both the internal and external validity of studies examining the long-term impact of injury. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Demography Emergency Responders Epidemiology Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Surveys And Questionnaires

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Injury Demographic Characteristics Disaster Disaster Recovery Emergency Responders Falling Objects Health Surveys Humans Injuries Longitudinal Study Long Term Study Quality Of Life Rescue Workers Risk Factors Slips, Trips, And Falls STF World Trade Center WTC

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• ISSN:
  2197-1714
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  8
• Volume:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056403
• Citation:
  Inj Epidemiol 2019 Mar; 6:8
• Contact Point Address:
  Melanie H. Jacobson, World Trade Center Health Registry, Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 125 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013, USA
• Email:
  mjacobson@health.nyc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  New York City Health/Mental Hygiene
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090430
• Source Full Name:
  Injury Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9045d52f80679e60dc82ef324404380d29c8ea950d06e7ba24922dd38c2f40f9a70652aac60c8cd91262bf156682b683d8b33bfa80400f2a6b3dbb08a9e21443
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214017/cdc_214017_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 713.42 KB ]