World Trade Center responders with exposure-related chronic conditions also more likely to experience long COVID<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
FRIDAY, June 17, 2022 (HealthDay News) — World Trade Center (WTC) responders who suffer from exposure-related chronic conditions also face an increased risk for worse COVID-19 outcomes, including long COVID, according to a study published online June 7 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health<\/em>.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Lhuillier, M.D., from Stony Brook University in New York, and colleagues assessed whether conditions resulting from WTC exposures are associated with increased COVID-19 disease severity. The analysis included 1,280 WTC responders with health outcomes data collected prior to and following COVID-19 infection.<\/p>\n The researchers found that COVID-19 severity was associated with age, Black race, and obstructive airway disease (OAD), as well as with worse self-reported depressive symptoms. The presence of postacute COVID-19 sequelae was associated with COVID-19 severity, upper respiratory disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, OAD, heart disease, and worse depressive symptoms.<\/p>\n “Our findings point toward the need to monitor these chronically ill patients who contracted the infection even more closely,” a coauthor said in a statement. “They all suffer from various chronic conditions brought on by exposures at the WTC site. This study alerts us to even more problems they may face in the future.”<\/p>\n