The World Trade Center Health Program: Obstructive sleep apnea best practices

Abstract

The events of September 11, 2001 exposed nearly half a million community residents and workers engaged in rescue and recovery and clean-up to dust, debris and toxic chemicals, as well as psychologic and physical stressors. Early studies showed an excess of aerodigestive diseases including rhinosinusitis and gastroesophageal reflux. Several studies of World Trade Center (WTC) responders report an excess of obstructive sleep apnea among patients who developed new onset or worsening chronic rhinosinusitis. High quality clinical diagnostic and treatment guidelines are available from The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense. For enrolled members, the WTC program covers diagnostic evaluation and treatment for sleep apnea in members diagnosed with WTC-related upper and lower respiratory disease and gastroesophageal reflux.

Keywords:

• Occupational diseases
• adults
• respiratory diseases
• workers

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Institutional review board (IRB) review

This activity did not involve human subjects and therefore did not require IRB review.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded in part by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (CDC/HHS) (CDC/NIOSH: 200-2017-93431, U10 OH008239, 1U01OH012072; 1U01 OH011852-01A11 and U01OH011855-01-00).