Exposure to the World Trade Center attack and the use of cigarettes and alcohol among New York City public high-school students.

Wu, Ping; Duarte, Cristiane S; Mandell, Donald J; Fan, Bin; Liu, Xinhua; Fuller, Cordelia J; Musa, George; Cohen, Michael et al. · Am J Public Health · 2006

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

We examined exposure to the World Trade Center attack and changes in cigarette smoking and drinking among 2731 New York City public high-school students evaluated 6 months after the attack. Increased drinking was associated with direct exposure to the World Trade Center attack (P < .05). Increased smoking was not directly associated with exposure to the World Trade Center attack but was marginally significantly associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (P= .06). Our findings suggest that targeted substance-use interventions for youths may be warranted after large-scale disasters.

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