Abstract
BackgroundExposure to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11/2001 resulted in continuing stress experience manifested as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms in a minority of the police responders. The WTC Health Registry has followed up a large number of individuals, including police officers, at three waves of data collection from 2003 to 2011. This analysis examines the relationship between initial exposure levels, long-term PTSD symptoms, and subsequent emotional support among police responders.MethodsThe study population included police responders who had reported their 9/11 exposure levels at Wave 1 (2003/4), provided three waves of data on PTSD symptoms using the 17-item PCL scale, and rated their received emotional support at Wave 3 (N = 2,204, 1,908 men, 296 women, mean age: 38 years at exposure). A second-order growth curve reflected a PTSD symptom trajectory which was embedded in a structural equation model, with exposure level specified as an exogenous predictor, and emotional support specified as an endogenous outcome.ResultsExposure had a main effect on mean symptom levels (intercept) across three waves but it made no difference in changes in symptoms (slope), and no difference in emotional support. The symptom trajectory, on the other hand, had an effect on emotional support. Its intercept and slope were both related to support, indicating that changes in symptoms affected later emotional support.ConclusionsInitial trauma exposure levels can have a long-term effect on mean symptom levels. Emotional support is lower in police responders when PTSD symptoms persist over seven years, but becomes higher when reduction in symptoms occurs.
Highlights
Exposure to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11/2001 resulted in continuing stress experience manifested as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms in a minority of the police responders
This study is limited to those first responders without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prior to the 9/11 disaster, and who completed all items of the PTSD Checklist (PCL) at each of the Waves 1, 2 and 3 [20]
Correlations indicate that exposure was positively related to symptoms over time but not to emotional support (r = −0.04, p = 0.05)
Summary
Exposure to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11/2001 resulted in continuing stress experience manifested as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms in a minority of the police responders. The WTC Health Registry has followed up a large number of individuals, including police officers, at three waves of data collection from 2003 to 2011. This analysis examines the relationship between initial exposure levels, long-term PTSD symptoms, and subsequent emotional support among police responders. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center (WTC) when two airplanes were piloted into the twin towers, caused a considerable amount of injuries and almost 2,800 deaths [1,2,3,4,5]. About two to three years after the disaster, some of the 4,017 police officers (582 women, 3,435 men) reported to have experienced continuing distress, and they met criteria for PTSD [9] in the Wave 1 survey by the WTCHR
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