The earliest responders to reach the site of the destroyed twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, are at highest risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma/COPD overlap (ACO) among all those who worked at the site. The 9/11 attack was the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.
The findings come from a case-control study that included nearly 18,000 emergency responders and volunteers. The investigators found that those who arrived at the site within 48 hours had an approximately 30% higher risk of developing COPD than those who arrived later, after adjustment for smoking and obesity, reported Rafael E de la Hoz, MD, a professor of environmental medicine, public health, and medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center, in New York City, and colleagues.
"In this largest World Trade Center occupational cohort, spirometrically defined COPD and ACO were both modestly but significantly associated with World Trade Center exposure intensity, but the association seemed driven by the overlap," he said in a narrated poster presentation during the European Respiratory Society (ERS) 2021 International Congress, held online.
"Around the world, we rely on our emergency workers to help when disasters occur," commented Arzu Yorgancıoğlu, MD, professor and head of the Department of Pulmonology at Celal Bayar University, in Manisa,Turkey, who was not involved in the study.
