9/11 Still Wreaking Havoc on Firefighters' Health

Many rescue workers who spent months inside the cloud surrounding the ruins of the World Trade Center after 9/11 still suffer diminished lung capacity and might never recover from the damage their bodies sustained. 

Those are the results of a seven-year research project to track the lung health of FDNY rescue workers, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings are a stark reminder of the toll that 9/11 continues to take on those who helped save lives and clean up the wreckage.

Researchers, tested the lung capacity of 12,781 firefighters and EMS workers -- 92 percent of all FDNY rescue workers at ground zero -- at regular intervals over the past seven years. All the study participants had arrived at ground zero between Sept. 11 and Sept. 24, 2001.

The team used spirometry testing -- an evaluation of how much air an individual can expel in a single breath -- as a gauge of lung function. By the end of the study, 13 percent of firefighters and 22 percent of EMS workers who had never smoked suffered from below-normal lung function.

While lung function dropped sharply immediately after 9/11, the new research indicates that it often continued to deteriorate. Even worse, there's no sign of recovery. Symptoms of diminished lung function can differ between individuals, but day-to-day problems can include difficulty inhaling and a chronic cough. Exercise is often out of the question.

And while firefighters are inevitably exposed to contaminated air and smoke, the lung capacity of ground zero workers is much worse than that of other veteran firefighters. Several studies of urban and woodland firefighters concluded that despite short-term lung damage they sustain, recovery usually occurs "within a matter of days."

FDNY has been running an ongoing medical monitoring and treatment program since shortly after 9/11, which includes free testing and medications for several ailments, including respiratory problems. Without the initiative, which is financed by millions in federal funds, "it's safe to say that the results could have been much much more serious," Aldrich said


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