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World Trade Center Workers Twice as Likely to Have Asthma

TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- World Trade Center rescue and cleanup workers have asthma rates twice that of the general population, a new study shows.

In 2005, about 8 percent of workers and volunteers who had spent time at Ground Zero reported having an asthma attack during the previous year, compared to about 4 percent of the general population. The rate of asthma attacks among World Trade Center workers had been less than 1 percent in 2000.

Reports of problems with asthma continued to rise for several years after the attacks. Less than 3 percent of World Trade Center workers reported ever having been diagnosed with asthma attacks pre-9/11, while 16 percent reported in 2005 through 2007 that they had asthma attacks at some point.

"Twice as many World Trade Center responders are suffering from asthma when compared to those their age from the general population," said senior study author Dr. Paul Enright, a research professor of medicine at the University of Arizona.

The study was to be presented Tuesday at the American College of Chest Physicians' annual meeting in San Diego.

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