The Duration of an Exposure Response Gradient between Incident Obstructive Airways Disease and Work at the World Trade Center Site: 2001-2011

We examined how lower respiratory symptoms were associated with OAD diagnoses within individuals. Table 3 shows the relationship of physician diagnoses of OAD to prior self-reported OAD symptoms of cough, wheeze, and shortness of breath. Most persons who developed OAD reported symptoms prior to physician diagnosis, and this was true throughout the follow-up period. However, the majority of persons who never received an OAD diagnosis also reported OAD symptoms. Of the 2,286 persons who received an OAD diagnosis during the follow-up period, 1,934 (84.6%) took a medical monitoring questionnaire and completed the question on self-reported lower respiratory symptoms during the first 15 months. Of those, 1,559 reported at least one lower respiratory symptom during the first 15 months, for an overall sensitivity of 80.6%.Table 3. Fraction of persons reporting OAD symptoms on medical monitoring questionnaires by month of OAD diagnosis. *1,471 persons did not complete a medical monitoring questionnaire during the first 15 months and are excluded from this column. Month of OAD diagnosis #/N (%) self-reporting OAD symptoms in first 15 months* #/N self-reporting OAD symptoms in any prior period 1-15 321/351 (91.5%) – 16-60 477/585 (81.5%) 477/685 (69.6%) 61-84 288/369 (78.1%) 319/432 (73.8%) 85-120 473/629 (75.2%) 554/745 (74.4%) Never 4,088/6,373 (64.2%) 4,682/7,492 (62.5%) Entire cohort 5,647/8,307 (68.0%) 9,778 Persons whose first physician diagnosis of OAD ...
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: research