American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on August 17, 2005
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwi233
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Center for Environmental Health, New York State Department of Health, Troy, NY
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. The authors investigated changes in respiratory health after September 11, 2001 ("9/11") among residents of the area near the World Trade Center (WTC) site in New York City as compared with residents of a control area. In 2002, self-administered questionnaires requesting information on the presence and persistence of respiratory symptoms, unplanned medical visits, and medication use were sent to 9,200 households (22.3% responded) within 1.5 km of the WTC site (affected area) and approximately 1,000 residences (23.3% responded) in Upper Manhattan, more than 9 km from the site (control area). Residents of the affected area reported higher rates of new-onset upper respiratory symptoms after 9/11 (cumulative incidence ratio = 2.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.88, 2.63). Most of these symptoms persisted 1 year after 9/11 in the affected area. Previously healthy residents of the affected area had more respiratory-related unplanned medical visits (prevalence ratio = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.13, 2.64) and more new medication use (prevalence ratio = 2.89, 95% CI: 1.75, 4.76) after 9/11. Greater impacts on respiratory functional limitations were also found in the affected area. Although bias may have contributed to these increases, other analyses of WTC-related pollutants support their biologic plausibility. Further analyses are needed to examine whether these increases were related to environmental exposures and to monitor long-term health effects.
Received July 23, 2004
Accepted October 29, 2004
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Upper Respiratory Symptoms and Other Health Effects among Residents Living Near the World Trade Center Site after September 11, 2001
2 Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY
3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York, Renssalaer, NY
Shao Lin, E-mail: sxl05{at}health.state.ny.us
Abstract 
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  R. J. Laumbach, G. Harris, H. M. Kipen, P. Georgopoulos, P. Shade, S. S. Isukapalli, C. Efstathiou, S. Galea, D. Vlahov, and D. Wartenberg Lack of Association Between Estimated World Trade Center Plume Intensity and Respiratory Symptoms Among New York City Residents Outside of Lower Manhattan Am. J. Epidemiol., September 1, 2009; 170(5): 640 - 649. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. I. Banauch, C. Hall, M. Weiden, H. W. Cohen, T. K. Aldrich, V. Christodoulou, N. Arcentales, K. J. Kelly, and D. J. Prezant Pulmonary Function after Exposure to the World Trade Center Collapse in the New York City Fire Department Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., August 1, 2006; 174(3): 312 - 319. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|