First responders who suffered lung damage from breathing in dust after the World Trade Center attacks are not regaining normal lung function, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine today.
Researchers with Albert Einstein College of Medicine in collaboration with the FDNY tested the breathing of nearly 13,000 firefighters and EMTs who were at the site in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Lung damage from smoke inhalation at fire usually heals over time, but the clouds on 9/11 were an unusually dense mix of the pulverized buildings and smoke.
As of Sept. 2008, some 13 percent of firefighters still had lower than normal breathing ability, down only slightly from the 18 percent with lung trouble shortly after 9/11.
“We demonstrated dramatic decline in lung function, mostly in the first six months after 9/11, and these declines persisted with little or no meaningful recovery of lung function among FDNY rescue workers (firefighters and emergency medical service workers) over the next six and a half years,” said Dr. David Prezant.
