Characteristics of Cancers in Community Members Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster at a Young Age

Rebecca Lynn Florsheim, Qiao Zhang, Nedim Durmus, Yian Zhang, Sultan Pehlivan, Alan A. Arslan, Yongzhao Shao and Joan Reibman ()
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Rebecca Lynn Florsheim: Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Qiao Zhang: Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Nedim Durmus: Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Yian Zhang: Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Sultan Pehlivan: Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Alan A. Arslan: Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Yongzhao Shao: Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA
Joan Reibman: Department of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-17

Abstract: The destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers on 11 September 2001 (9/11) released tons of dust and smoke into the atmosphere, exposing hundreds of thousands of community members (survivors) and responders to carcinogens. The WTC Environmental Health Center (WTC EHC) is a federally designated surveillance and treatment program for community members who were present in the New York City disaster area on 9/11 or during the months that followed. WTC EHC enrollment requires exposure to the WTC dust and fumes and a federally certifiable medical condition, which includes most solid and blood cancers. Several studies have described the prevalence and characteristics of cancers in responders and survivors exposed to the WTC dust and fumes as adults. Cancers in those exposed at a young age warrant specific investigation since environmental toxin exposure at a younger age may change cancer risk. We describe the characteristics of 269 cancer patients with 278 cancer diagnoses among WTC EHC enrollees who were young in age (aged 0 to 30) on 9/11. These include 215 patients with a solid tumor (79.9%) and 54 with a lymphoid and/or hematopoietic cancer (20.1%). Among them, 9 patients had a known second primary cancer. A total of 23 different types of cancer were identified, including cancer types rare for this age group. Many were diagnosed in individuals lacking traditional cancer-specific risk factors such as tobacco use. The current study is the first to report specifically on cancer characteristics of younger enrollees in the WTC EHC program.

Keywords: World Trade Center; WTC survivors; environmental exposure; cancer; cancer characteristics; young adult; children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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