For Many, 9/11-Linked Trauma Emerged Years Later

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"The late onset of post-traumatic stress symptoms is not a surprise but a confirmation that this is a lifetime risk factor," said Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He volunteered at the disaster site, working with survivors and family members.

"We would expect that this would have happened," added Keith A. Young, vice chairman for research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. "It's not strange if symptoms emerge later."

And experts agree that symptoms will often spike as the anniversary of the disaster approaches every year.

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Right after the attack, people directly exposed were diagnosed with asthma at six times the rate seen in the general population. By the latest survey, the incidence was down to 10 percent -- much closer to the 7.7 percent asthma incidence found among the general population in a 2007 study.

Firefighters and other rescue-and-recovery workers had the highest rates of new asthma diagnoses, the study found.

"The early incidence of respiratory disease could be directly related to the intensity of the exposure over the first few days," said Jacob Finkelstein, professor of pediatrics, environmental medicine and radiation oncology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "By the time they got through to 2006, the incidence of respiratory-related symptoms had pretty much declined back to baseline. That's pretty much what you'd expect."

Overall, about 25,500 adults developed asthma after 9/11, and about 61,000 had post-traumatic stress symptoms, the study found.

The two conditions often occurred together.

"There was this interaction between the two," said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association. "And other research indicates that those living in stressful situations seem to be more likely to have asthma."

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