The World Trade Center Health Program: Twenty years of health effects research

Abstract

It has been 20 years since the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.Thousands were injured or killed during the attacks and many more are at risk of adverse health stemming from physical, psychological, and emotional stressors born out of the attacks. Private, federal, state, and local resources were gathered soon after the attacks to address impacts to the community, including the health and wellbeing of both responders and survivors. Many of these efforts are now largely consolidated under the federally mandated World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. This program provides medical monitoring and treatment of qualifying conditions among the 9/11-exposed population and supports related physical and mental health research. In this commentary, we describe the WTC Health Program, with emphasis on the health-effects research it has funded since inception in 2011.We describe sentinel research publications, and how science has impacted the program. We provide examples relating studies in this special issue to important roles in the WTC Health Program research agenda. Finally, we provide a perspective on future research needs. | INTRODUCTIONAs we approach the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we are once again reminded of the thousands who lost their lives or were injured that day. We also grieve for many more who now suffer from adverse health effects stemming from the physical, psychological, and emotional stressors born out of the attacks. The health of nearly a half million people is potentially at risk from exposures attributable to 9/11. 1 In the aftermath of the attacks, private, federal, state, and local resources supported several postdisaster activities, including recovery actions, the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Registry, and caring for the affected population in several surrounding health-care facilities. Health-care activities were later consolidated with the passing of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (The Act), establishing the WTC Health Program 1 . The WTC Health Program is a limited health benefits program for qualifying health conditions related to the 9/11 attacks and aftermath. It provides medical monitoring and treatment of eligible responders, initial health evaluations for eligible survivors, and medical monitoring treatment for survivors who have health conditions certified by the Program. The Program resides under the U.S.