Epidemiologic study of the autoimmune health effects of a cargo aircraft disaster.
BACKGROUND
In the aftermath of a cargo aircraft crash in Amsterdam in 1992, indications of autoimmune disorders appeared in some of the affected population.


METHODS
This epidemiologic study sought to determine the possible long-term autoimmune health effects of the aircraft disaster on professional assistance workers. Exposed professional firefighters (n = 334) and police officers (n = 834) who performed at least 1 disaster-related task and hangar workers who sorted and investigated the wreckage (n = 241) were compared with reference groups of nonexposed colleagues who did not perform any disaster-related tasks (n = 194, n = 634, and n = 104, respectively). Data were collected a mean of 8.5 years after the disaster. Questionnaires were used to assess disaster-related tasks and 11 autoimmune-like symptoms. All serum samples were tested for the presence of antinuclear antibodies, rheumatoid factor, and antineutrophil cytoplasmic and anticardiolipin antibodies.


RESULTS
Compared with nonexposed colleagues, exposed workers reported significantly more autoimmune-like symptoms. They reported the following symptoms significantly more often: tingling sensations, myalgia, loss of strength, easily fatigued, and a feeling of sand in the eyes (all groups); infection proneness (firefighters); skin abnormalities and nocturnal transpiration (police officers and hangar workers); and vasculitis-like symptoms and Raynaud discoloring (police officers). In contrast, we found no significant difference between exposed and nonexposed workers in autoantibody prevalence.


CONCLUSIONS
Occupational exposure to the aircraft disaster resulted in an excess of long-term self-reported autoimmune-like symptoms in exposed professional assistance workers, but there was no difference between exposed and nonexposed workers in the prevalence of autoantibodies.
Slottje
Pauline
P
Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Bijlsma
Joost A
JA
Smidt
Nynke
N
Twisk
Jos W R
JW
Huizink
Anja C
AC
Lems
Willem F
WF
van Hoogstraten
Ingrid
I
Witteveen
Anke B
AB
van Mechelen
Willem
W
Smid
Tjabe
T
D000060:Accidents, Aviation; D000328:Adult; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000401:Aircraft; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000502:physiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D015995:Prevalence; D018635:Rescue Work; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D001323:Autoantibodies