Research Agenda

Research Mission

The mission of the WTC Health Program research includes the following broad areas:

Physical and mental health conditions that may be related to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks;
Diagnosing WTC-related health conditions for which there has been diagnostic uncertainty; and
Treating WTC-related health conditions for which there has been treatment uncertainty.

Areas of Interest

Research mentioned in the Zadroga Act includes epidemiologic and other research studies on WTC-related health conditions or emerging conditions among (1) enrolled WTC responders and certified-eligible WTC survivors under treatment; (2) sampled populations outside the NYC disaster area, in Manhattan (as far north as 14th Street) and in Brooklyn; and (3) control populations, to identify potential for long-term adverse health effects in less exposed populations.

The WTC Health Program major areas of interest for research include, but are not limited to:

Linking 9/11 exposure to health conditions:
- Cancers, multisystem or autoimmune, cardiovascular and neurologic disease (including age at diagnosis);
- Characterizing patterns of illness (age, gender, comorbidities, etc.); and
- Characterizing alterations in health and development for those exposed to 9/11 as children.
Characterizing established WTC-related diseases and comorbidities:
- dentifying phenotypes, biomarkers, epigenetics; and
- Care models that address complex co-morbidities and other modifiable factors.
Health services research and value-based care that addresses disaster-related injury and illness for chronic disease. (NOTE: Health services research examines how people get access to health care, how much care costs, and what happens to patients as a result of this care. The main goals of health services research are to identify the most effective ways to organize, manage, finance, and deliver high quality care; reduce medical errors; and improve patient safety (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2002).)
Characterizing the work-ability and occupational outcomes for those impacted by 9/11:
- Lessons learned in recovery:
  - Identifying and operationalizing key elements of psychological resilience for disaster responders; and
  - Establishing comparison groups for disaster-related research for key health indicators for first responders (NOTE: Concepts of psychological resilience vary across disciplines with investigations addressing various outcomes ranging from reported levels of stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, and general indicators of well-being. Also proposed are interpersonal, intrapersonal and environmental factors that suggest a more stable and enduring personality trait impacting self-regulation.)

Relevant diseases or conditions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Respiratory diseases
Cancer (including detection/diagnosis of pre-malignant changes)
Cardiovascular Disease
Psychological resilience and well-being
Persistent psychiatric conditions such as posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depressive disorders
Cognitive changes
Aging – the impacts of aging on those impacted by 9/11 illness and injury
Neurological Diseases
Aerodigestive health
Multisystem or auto-immune diseases
Gastro-esophageal disorders
Gastrointestinal health
Chronic musculoskeletal conditions resulting from acute traumatic injury and overuse disorders

Evaluation

The Research-to-Care Logic Model [PDF, 5 pages, 405 KB] is used by the WTC Health Program to evaluate the effectiveness of the WTC research program.

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