9/11 Survivors Show Signs of Alcohol Abuse at Much Higher Rates than Broader Population
Survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks partake in binge drinking or heavy drinking at rates significantly higher than those of the general population, according to a new study published in the November issue of the peer-reviewed journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
The article, “Longitudinal trajectories of binge and heavy drinking pattern among World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees, 2006–2021” defines binge drinking as consuming five or more drinks (for men or women) on one occasion within the last 30 days. Heavy drinking is defined either as consuming 15 or more drinks per week for men or eight or more drinks per week for women. Binge and heavy drinking are considered markers for what clinicians call “Alcohol Use Disorder” (AUD).
Among the overall population of the United States, according to statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (part of the National Institutes of Health), the rates of these behaviors are 20.1 percent for binge drinking and 5.0 percent for heavy drinking. But in the study of September 11 survivors (consisting of 18,332 people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry), these rates are approximately 42.2 percent for binge drinking and 24.1 percent for heavy drinking.
“The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center had far-reaching consequences for the health and well-being of those directly affected,” the team of five authors writes. “Elevated prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)… is commonly correlated with substance use disorder (SUD), including AUD, with approximately two-thirds of individuals with PTSD developing co-occurring SUD, either concurrently with or after the onset of PTSD.”
“Numerous studies have reported exposure to the September 11 terrorist attacks as strongly associated with an increase in alcohol usage across diverse exposed populations, including Fire Department of New York (FDNY) members, rescue and recovery workers, Lower Manhattan residents, and passersby,” the authors add.