Researchers have documented increased asthma rates among people exposed to the dust. Unusually high numbers of people have been diagnosed with chronic sinus problems, or inflammation of their nasal passages that makes their nose run constantly and causes a drippy cough. Many have also developed chronic heartburn caused by a stomach acid condition known as Gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Doctors at clinics that treat ground zero workers and volunteers believe that exposure to the dust, which was made up of tons of pulverized concrete, glass and other building materials, may have irritated some people’s upper respiratory systems so much that many still haven’t recovered.
“We think it has set up a cycle of chronic irritation,” said Dr. Michael Crane, director of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. “It’s a very disturbing condition. It keeps people up at night.”
Luckily, he said, those symptoms are also highly controllable. Patients can use antihistamine and steroid sprays and a saline rinse to ease their discomfort. Asthma isn’t curable, but can be controlled through medication and quick-relief inhalers. A smaller group of people have had surgery to relieve sinus problems.
For many of the thousands getting treatment, however, fear runs deep. They aren’t worried about a nagging cough, or a frequent runny nose. They are worried about cancer.
And here, experts said, evidence of a tie has been lacking.
Hundreds of people exposed to trade center dust have, indeed, gotten cancer, and many have died, but that hasn’t surprised doctors. Cancer is a leading killer of people in the U.S., even among people in their 40s. Many of the cancers now afflicting people who spent time on the debris pile can develop over decades, meaning the disease could have been simmering away unnoticed in their bodies for many years before 9/11.
Two new studies published Friday in the medical journal, The Lancet, failed to find a significant increase in cancer, or other deadly illnesses, among people exposed to the dust.
Fire department researchers who studied cancer rates in 9,000 exposed firefighters found only four more cases of the illness than they would normally expect. Experts said that kind of increase is insignificant, though health advocates said they did see some worrisome trends in the data, including an unexpected number of a few rare types of the disease, including thyroid cancer.Another study of 42,000 people in a World Trade Center health registry found that, so far, they have had a better mortality rate than the general public. It said 790 people in the study group had died as of 2009, about 43 percent fewer than expected. Researchers said that is probably because the study group tended to be comprised of people who were healthier than the general public before 9/11.
