World Trade Center Responders Have Higher Asthma Rates Than General Population

November 4, 2009 7:27 a.m. EST

San Diego, CA (AHN) - Responders to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center suffer asthma at a rate of more than twice the general U.S. population, according to research conducted by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

These workers and volunteers were exposed to caustic dust and other toxic pollutants that were released when the twin towers collapsed after being struck by two jumbo passenger jets.

The researchers said in a statement that as many as 8 percent of the workers and volunteers who engaged in rescue, recovery and cleanup work at the site experienced asthma attacks, compared with 4 percent of the general population.

Hyun Kim, an instructor of Preventative Medicine at Mount Sinai, said in a statement that the study was the first to quantify the magnitude of asthma among World Trade center responders compared with the general U.S. population.

The findings were reported at the 75th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians on Oct. 31 in San Diego, Calif.