CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE IN WTC WORKERS - DIAGNOSES AND TRANSITIONS

Project SummaryThe goal of this proposal is to characterize the transitions into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)among former workers and volunteers at the WTC disaster site. The investigators will apply diagnostic criteriafor COPD, classify its severity, investigate the diagnostic stability, progression, and transitions, characterizestructural abnormalities as assessed by chest CT imaging, and examine the interaction of WTC-relatedexposure levels with tobacco smoking on increasing the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Thisproject will be conductted in the occupational cohort followed at Mount Sinai, and in a parallel study at theoccupational cohort followed by the New York City Department of Health WTC Health Registry. To that end,we will utilize the WTC Pulmonary Evaluation Unit Chest CT Imaging Archive, a large repository with morethan 3000 chest CT images on 1700 WTC workers, as well as linked datasets with disease symptoms, bothpre-WTC and WTC-related occupational exposures, detailed pulmonary function and longitudinal spirometrymeasurements and weight trends, visual imaging classification and grading, and quantitative computerassisted method (QCAM) measurements of airway, and pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities.