Sept. 11 Rescue Workers at Risk for Asthma

A study done by the New York City Health Department reveals World Trade Center rescue workers have a much higher rate of new asthma cases.

The survey shows the rate of new asthma cases was nearly 12 times higher than normal. It also revealed the use of respirators helped reduce the risk of developing asthma, New York News Day reported Monday.

The data, which was taken from the World Trade Center Health Registry, shows 3.6 percent of the 25,000 rescue and recovery workers reported developing asthma.That is 12 times what would be normally expected for the adult population during that amount of time.

The paper was published online Monday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The dust from the World Trade Center collapse appears to have had significant respiratory health effects at least for people who worked at the site, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City health commissioner, said in a statement.