Mental and Physical Health Outcomes of World Trade Center Disaster Volunteers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brackbill R ; Cone, James E. ; Debchoudhury I ; Fairclough M ; Farfel MR ; Stellman S ; Welch A
• Description:
  Background: Volunteers are universally present at man-made and natural disasters and may share experiences and exposures with victims, yet little is known of their health outcomes. Objectives: To compare mental and physical health outcomes among 4,974 volunteers who performed World Trade Center (WTC)-related rescue/recovery work. Methods: We studied adults who completed the WTC Health Registry 2006-07 survey and reported volunteering between 9/11/01 and 6/30/02. We examined associations between volunteer type (affiliated with an organization [n=3702], spontaneous [n=1272]) and probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); new/worsening lower respiratory symptoms; post-9/11 first diagnosis of anxiety disorder, depression, and/or PTSD; and asthma/reactive airway dysfunction syndrome (RADS). Odds ratios adjusted for select demographic characteristics (ORadj) were calculated using multinomial regression. Results: Spontaneous volunteers were more likely than affiliated volunteers to have been present in lower Manhattan (77.4% vs. 25.8%), worked at the WTC site (34.8% vs. 11.9%), witnessed horror (90.9% vs. 85.6%), and sustained injury (25.1% vs. 16.8%) on 9/11/01. They had greater odds of having an early post-911 mental health diagnosis (ORadj 1.6; 95% CI: 1.3-1.8), chronic probable PTSD (2.2; 1.7-2.8), late-onset probable PTSD (1.9; 1,5-2.5), new/worsening lower respiratory symptoms (2.0; 1.8-2.4), and early post-9/11 asthma/RADS (1.8; 1.2-2.7) and were more likely to report unmet healthcare needs than affiliated volunteers (29.8% vs. 16.1%). Conclusion: These findings may reflect more intense exposure to physical and psychological hazards among spontaneous volunteers due to their earlier arrival. This suggests all volunteers need protection during and after disasters, including timely screening and mental and physical healthcare. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Disasters Disaster Response Health Effects Mental Health Post-traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD Respiratory Diseases World Trade Center WTC
• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062360
• Citation:
  APHA 139th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 29 - November 2, 2011, Washington, D.C. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2011 Oct; :239019
• Contact Point Address:
  Indira Debchoudhury, MPH, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, 233 Broadway, 26th Floor, New York, NY, USA 10279
• Email:
  idebchou@health.nyc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Performing Organization:
  New York City Health/Mental Hygiene
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20090430
• Source Full Name:
  APHA 139th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 29 - November 2, 2011, Washington, D.C
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2e66466b40cdf51ca9c028d2e60e6d97968737402db8e0174d3a95425cca39365db373535fdd16d3445cc624d331cfd567c34a5e9c3bfd357502ab6a86a0f0ac
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225626/cdc_225626_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 164.62 KB ]