Study: 70,000 may suffer post-9/11 stress disorder

NEW YORK — New data from a public health registry that tracks the health effects of 9/11 suggest that as many as 70,000 people may have developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the terrorist attacks.

The estimate, released Wednesday by New York City's Department of Health, is based on an analysis of the health of 71,437 people who enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry. They agreed to be tracked for up to 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the study was based on answers they volunteered about their health two and three years after the attack.

Of the estimated 400,000 people believed to have been heavily exposed to pollution from the disaster, data suggests that 35,000 to 70,000 people developed PTSD and 3,800 to 12,600 may have developed asthma, city health officials said.

They include rescue and recovery workers, lower Manhattan residents, area workers, commuters and passers-by.

Overall, half of the respondents said they had been in the dust cloud from the collapsing towers; 70 percent witnessed a traumatic sight, such as a plane hitting the tower or falling bodies; and 13 percent sustained an injury that day.

"The consensus among physicians is that when it comes to physical health, the vast majority of people felt symptoms in the first year," said Lorna Thorpe, the deputy commissioner for epidemiology at the New York City Health Department. "A small proportion of people, however, developed symptoms years later. And in some cases, it's hard to tell whether they're World Trade Center-related or a result of allergies or existing conditions."

The post-traumatic stress disorder rate was highest among injured, low-income and Hispanic study volunteers. In general, minorities and low-income respondents experienced higher rates of mental and physical problems, as did women.

The study was conducted by the city health department and the federal Centers for Disease Control's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. It was released in the Journal of Urban Health.

The city offers free physical and mental health care to eligible people affected by the attacks.

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On The Web:

World Trade Center Health Registry: http://www.nyc.gov/9-11healthinfo

Comments

[JDHART]

Not to mention the billions of people suffering from Post Bush Stress Disorder

[ohiomark]

Not me.

It woke me up and got me to realize that I was NOT a liberal. That horrible day changed the way I thought about everything.

Before 9/11, I wasn't really paying attention to politics and ideologies. Now I'm solidly conservative and I understand why. It was my pivot point.

[Vinca]

C-Span had Alex Jones on , no other station would have done that, I have two dvd's on 9/11, one said GOLD WAS UNDER ONE BLDG< I BELIEVE

[Vinca]

I'm having STRESS, because we can't get the t\ruth out about 9/11, WHERE DID THE TERRORISTS GET THAT THERMITE?

[Fudgefase]

I know I was traumatised mentally from watching it on the tv - I don't blame the press - I just couldn't look away. Nowadays I hate watching anything that looks like it, building demolitions or even footage of the event. I guess it was my generation's equivalent of the JFK assassination.

[evilzed]

Not only did the government know on the day itself that rescuers were being exposed to harmful dust, they also ordered misleading information to be given to the public, they ordered scientific research results on the air to be falsified, they allowed residents to return to their homes in the immediate vicinity knowing the air was corrosive and lethal and, to top it all off, they have since embarked on a collective program to block compensation and funding of health programs because that would be an admission of guilt.
Ground zero workers, volunteers and firefighters have since suffered from lung diseases and cancers, many have died. The New York Times reported earlier this year that the Fire Department tracked a startling increase in cases of a particular lung scarring disease, known as sarcoidosis, among firefighters, which rose to five times the expected rate in the two years after Sept. 11.

The latest study, by the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, has revealed that nearly 70 percent of the rescue workers who toiled in the dust and fumes at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks suffer breathing problems.

Add to this the fact that the Government ordered the EPA to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers on September 12 it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available and Asbestos levels were known to be three times higher than national standards.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0823-03.htm

[RebelPatriot]

oh come on now.

why can't you believe the government? after all, didn't they tell us the truth about -

agent orange?
the anthrax attacks?
the atomic veterans?
the Gulf of Tonkin?
babies in incubators thrown to the floor to die?
Saddam decided to invade Kuwait all on his own?
WMD's?
Pat Tillman?
Jessica Lynch?
Extraordinary renditions?
Tortures, I mean strong in-TERROR-gation?
that Russia invaded Georgia without any reason?
that we don't use banned weapons in Iraq?
that depleted uranium is safe and legal?

that it was 19 lunatic Islamofacsists that evaded the US security nets with 4 lumbering jet liners and pulled off the biggest attack on the US since Pearl Harbor?

no, you must be joking - or unpatriotic - if you think the US is lying to you.

[McCainWho]

Does John McCain have PTSD for being a POW for ages? Why is he hiding his Official Military Records and Mental Health Records from the public? This man is running to be our President and no one is requesting to see these records to ensure he is mentally fit for this Office. WHY? WHY?