Differences in PTSD Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors Among World Trade Center Disaster Rescue and Recovery Workers

Abstract

Workers and volunteers in occupations least likely to have had prior disaster training or experience were at greatest risk of PTSD. Disaster preparedness training and shift rotations to enable shorter duration of service at the site may reduce PTSD among workers and volunteers in future disasters.

Occupational Safety and Health Status of Sanitation Workers in Urban Areas: A Pilot Study From Wuhan, China

“…From the perspective of social ethics, we need to raise awareness of occupational protection of sanitation workers and strengthen research on this vulnerable group in developing countries. There have been hardly any studies on sanitation workers in the past 30 years in developed countries, where sanitation work is mechanized [23]. From the perspective of macropolicy, China already has an excellent legal system and the central government has worked actively in the field of occupational safety and health protection.…”

Validity of Mind Monitoring System as a Mental Health Indicator using Voice

“…that the detection rate decreases in organizations that have established hierarchies such as in fire-fighting, police, or military [6][7][8]. Some causes of undervaluation in self-administered screenings are prejudice, discrimination, resistance to mental health disorder, or anxiety on career disadvantage in the job [6].…”

“…Besides these tests, there are proposals to use biomarkers such as saliva [7] and blood [8] as a method of evaluating mental health conditions. However, although selfreport psychometric tests are effective in determining those conditions at their early stages and in complementing diagnoses, there are issues of reporting biases.…”

The Lessons of September 11

“…Perrin et al (2007) found that the overall prevalence of PTSD among rescue/recovery workers was 12.4%, ranging from 6.2% for trained police to 21.2% for untrained and unaffiliated volunteers 17) . Debchoudhury et al (2011) confirmed these findings and found that unaffiliated volunteers had greater risk of early mental health diagnosis, chronic PTSD, and lateonset PTSD 18) .…”