Lung Cancer Characteristics in the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center

Nedim Durmus, Sultan Pehlivan, Yian Zhang, Yongzhao Shao, Alan A. Arslan, Rachel Corona, Ian Henderson, Daniel H. Sterman and Joan Reibman
Additional contact information
Nedim Durmus: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, School of Medicine (SOM), New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Sultan Pehlivan: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, School of Medicine (SOM), New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Yian Zhang: World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, NYC H+HC, New York, NY 10016, USA
Yongzhao Shao: World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, NYC H+HC, New York, NY 10016, USA
Alan A. Arslan: World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, NYC H+HC, New York, NY 10016, USA
Rachel Corona: World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, NYC H+HC, New York, NY 10016, USA
Ian Henderson: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, School of Medicine (SOM), New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Daniel H. Sterman: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, School of Medicine (SOM), New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Joan Reibman: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, School of Medicine (SOM), New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: The destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers on 11 September 2001 resulted in acute and chronic dust and fume exposures to community members, including local workers and residents, with well-described aerodigestive adverse health effects. This study aimed to characterize lung cancer in the WTC Environmental Health Center (WTC EHC) focusing on gender and smoking history. WTC EHC patients undergo an initial evaluation that includes WTC exposure information, demographics, and tobacco use. Detailed cancer characteristics are recorded from pathology reports. As of 31 December 2019, 248 WTC EHC patients had a diagnosis of lung cancer. More patients with lung cancer were women (57%) compared to men (43%). Many cases (47% women, 51% men) reported acute dust cloud exposure. Thirty-seven percent of lung cancer cases with available smoking history were never-smokers (?1 pack-years) and 42% had a ?5 pack-year history. The median age of cancer diagnosis in never-smoking women was 61 years compared to 66 years in men. Adenocarcinoma was more common in never-smokers compared to ever-smokers (72% vs. 65%) and in women compared to men (70% vs. 65%). We provide an initial description of lung cancers in local community members with documented exposure to the WTC dust and fumes.

Keywords: WTC Environmental Health Center; World Trade Center; September 11th; lung cancer; cancer characteristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2689/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2689/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2689-:d:512264

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().