People who lived and worked near the collapsed World Trade Center buildings after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks still reported headaches seven years later, neurologists found.
By Ellen Gibson
(Bloomberg) – People who lived and worked near the collapsed World Trade Center buildings after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks still reported headaches seven years later, neurologists found.
Researchers surveyed 765 people who sought medical care at the Bellevue Hospital WTC Environmental Health Center after December 2005 and didn’t have headaches before 9/11. Of those, 43 percent reported having headaches in the month prior to the interview, according to a report to be presented on April 17 at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting.
While respiratory symptoms have been documented in workers and residents who inhaled dust and fumes after the buildings collapsed, little is known about the neurological effects of that environmental exposure, said Angela Babb, a spokeswoman for the St. Paul, Minnesota-based neurology academy. This data suggests that “headache is a common and persistent symptom” in that population, according to the report.
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