Associations between asthma trigger reports, mental health conditions, and asthma morbidity among world trade center rescue and recovery workers.

: There is limited information regarding asthma triggers in World Trade Center (WTC) rescue and recovery workers (RRW) or how mental health conditions affect the perception of triggers. : We included 372 WTC workers with asthma. The Asthma Trigger Inventory (ATI) assessed triggers along five domains: psychological, allergens, physical activity, infection, and pollution.

Depression symptoms and quality of life among individuals with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.

Objective: Patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) have high disease burden due to the severity of asthma and sinonasal symptoms. There is limited research on the psychological well-being and subjective experiences of patients with AERD. This study examined levels of depression symptoms, asthma-related quality of life and asthma control among AERD patients.

Post-traumatic stress disorder dimensions and asthma morbidity in World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers.

Objective: Using data from a cohort of World Trade Center (WTC) rescue and recovery workers with asthma, we assessed whether meeting criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sub-threshold PTSD, and for specific PTSD symptom dimensions are associated with increased asthma morbidity.

Methods: Participants underwent a Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to assess the presence of PTSD following DSM-IV criteria during in-person interviews between December 2013 and April 2015. We defined sub-threshold PTSD as meeting criteria for two of three symptom dimensions: re-experiencing, avoidance, or hyper-arousal.