eohsi news and announcements

Iris Udasin, M.D. co-author in World Trade Center responders study

Medical Director of EOHSI Clinical Center

Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute

Rutgers School of Public Health

Prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation in World Trade Center responders: Results from a population-based health monitoring cohort

Background

Suicidal ideation (SI) is an early risk factor for suicide among disaster responders. To date, however, no known study has examined the prevalence, and pre-, peri-, and post-disaster risk correlates of SI in World Trade Center (WTC) responders, one of the largest disaster response populations in U.S. history.

Methods

The prevalence, and pre-, peri- and post-event correlates of SI were assessed in a population-based health monitoring cohort of 14,314 police responders and 16,389 non-traditional responders (e.g., construction workers) who engaged in response, recovery, and clean-up efforts following the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on the WTC. Multivariable analyses were conducted to identify correlates and individual psychiatric symptoms associated with SI in each group.

Results

A total 12.5% of non-traditional and 2.2% of police WTC responders reported SI. Depression, functional impairment, alcohol use problems, and lower family support while working at the WTC site were associated with SI in both groups of responders. Symptom-level analyses revealed that three symptoms accounted for approximately half of the variance in SI for both groups—feeling bad about oneself, or that one has let down oneself or family; feeling down, depressed, or hopeless; and sense of foreshortened future (44.7% in non-traditional and 71% in police).

View/Download Full Article

Source:

Rutgers University Libraries – ScienceDirect
Journal of Affective Disorders
Volume 306, June 1, 2022, Pages 62-70

170 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 – 848-445-0200  Fax: 732-445-0131

Copyright © 2021, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey