Abstract
Objective: Studies have reported reduced health-related quality of life (HrQoL) in rescue/recovery workers for years postdisaster. Few have examined specific postdisaster physical and mental health conditions as mediators of the association between exposure to disaster and HrQoL. Methods: We used the Short Form-12 to measure HrQoL in 7190 male World Trade Center (WTC)-exposed first responders. Potential mediators included physician diagnoses obtained from medical records and mental health conditions obtained from questionnaires. Results: Among moderately and highly WTC-exposed workers, health conditions fully mediated the observed relationship between WTC-exposure and physical health functioning of HrQoL, and substantially mediated the association between WTCexposure and mental health functioning. Conclusions: Because WTCrelated health conditions explain the relationship between WTC-exposure and HrQoL, medical monitoring with treatment of affected populations is necessary to mitigate the adverse effects of WTC-exposure on HrQoL.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 200-206 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine |
Volume | 58 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2016 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health