Abstract
Peripheral neuropathy can result from numerous conditions including metabolic disorders, inflammatory disease, or exposure to environmental or biological toxins. We analyzed questionnaire data from 9239 Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) World Trade Center (WTC)-exposed firefighters and emergency medical service workers (EMS) to evaluate the association between work at the WTC site and subsequent peripheral neuropathy symptoms using the validated Diabetic Neuropathy Symptom (DNS) score. We grouped the population into an “Indicated” group with conditions known to be associated with paresthesia (N = 2059) and a “Non-Indicated” group without conditions known to be associated (N = 7180). The level of WTC exposure was categorized by time of arrival to the WTC. Overall, 25% of workers aged 40 and older reported peripheral neuropathy symptoms: 30.6% in the Indicated and 23.8% in the Non-Indicated groups, respectively. Multivariable logistic models performed on the Non-Indicated group, and on the Non-Indicated in comparison with non-WTC exposed National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), found that the highest level of WTC-exposure was significantly associated with DNS positive outcomes, after controlling for potential confounders. In conclusion, this study suggests that symptoms of peripheral neuropathy and paresthesias are common and are associated with WTC-exposure intensity.
Highlights
The collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings in New York City after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, 2001 (9/11) resulted in high volumes of aerosolized dust and gases including neurotoxins such as lead, aluminum, cadmium, manganese, tin, and complex hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [1,2].the 10-month rescue/recovery effort may have exposed workers to organic solvents [3] and pesticides [4], which are known causes of peripheral neuropathy and neurodegenerative diseases [1].Int
The purpose of the current study is to investigate the prevalence of self-reported peripheral neuropathic symptoms and paresthesias among more than 9000 WTC-exposed Fire Department of the City of
Symptoms was lower in the Non-Indicated than in the Indicated group, but not by half, a prevalence difference that has been demonstrated between non-diabetic and diabetic groups in the general population [19,29,30]. Does this result demonstrate the applicability of the Diabetic Neuropathy Symptom (DNS) in our cohort, it indicates a potential for WTC-exposed workers, other than those typically at risk, to be experiencing peripheral nerve damage
Summary
The collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings in New York City after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, 2001 (9/11) resulted in high volumes of aerosolized dust and gases including neurotoxins such as lead, aluminum, cadmium, manganese, tin, and complex hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [1,2].the 10-month rescue/recovery effort may have exposed workers to organic solvents [3] and pesticides [4], which are known causes of peripheral neuropathy and neurodegenerative diseases [1].Int. The collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings in New York City after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, 2001 (9/11) resulted in high volumes of aerosolized dust and gases including neurotoxins such as lead, aluminum, cadmium, manganese, tin, and complex hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [1,2]. The 10-month rescue/recovery effort may have exposed workers to organic solvents [3] and pesticides [4], which are known causes of peripheral neuropathy and neurodegenerative diseases [1]. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 1727; doi:10.3390/ijerph16101727 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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