# Complex WTC Exposures Impacting Persistent Large and Small Airflow Limitation and Vulnerable Subgroups in the WTC Survivor Population

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $491,306

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Today, more than 20 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many exposed community members continue to
have persistent lower airway symptoms with functional abnormalities in large and/or small airways as indicated
by spirometry measures of airflow and/or oscillometry measures of airway heterogeneity. Prior studies and
knowledges have been focused on the health effects of World Trade Center (WTC) exposures on the average
lung function profiles or discrete lung function patterns, however, systematic investigations on the severe
spectrum of the disease are limited. Post-bronchodilator (BD) measurements may identify persistent lung injury
as residual airflow limitation with significant morbidity and reduced quality of life, and thus are important and
clinically relevant parameters to investigate. Moreover, it is of key public health importance to study the
heterogeneous health impacts of the disaster and disparities in healthcare and wellbeing within subgroups. In
this project, we propose to address the important scientific questions related to respiratory disease in WTC
Survivor population and within vulnerable subgroups, through the following aims: Aim 1: Evaluate the
extreme quantiles of cross-sectional measurements of post-BD airway function, including large and small
airway metrics, and their association with WTC exposures and comorbidities. Aim 2: Conduct longitudinal
quantile analysis to investigate WTC exposures and other risk factors as determinants of the trajectory of
extreme quantiles of post-BD large and small airway metrics. Aim 3: Identify and evaluate vulnerable
subgroups who show heterogeneous susceptibilities to WTC exposures. Upon its completion, the proposed
project will expand our knowledge about health effects on severe respiratory diseases related to the 9/11
terrorist attacks, help to answer complex interplays of physical and mental health comorbidities, and apply
lessons to the management of disaster events.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10903707
- **Project number:** 5U01OH012637-02
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Mengling Liu
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $491,306
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10903707

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10903707, Complex WTC Exposures Impacting Persistent Large and Small Airflow Limitation and Vulnerable Subgroups in the WTC Survivor Population (5U01OH012637-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10903707. Licensed CC0.

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