World Trade Center Kidney-Link

This study focuses on the prevalence and identification of kidney disease among participants of the WTC Health Program and the study team are planning to assess kidney disease in a multi-factorial manner. The first aim of this study is to correlate kidney dysfunction with 9/11 exposure, and the study team predicts that exposure to 9/11 is an independent risk factor in kidney disease among the WTC Health Program participants. Secondly, the study team proposes that a well-established WTC-related condition, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), is independently associated with kidney disease. In addition, the study team believe there is a temporal causative relationship between evidence of kidney disease and the severity of OSA. Finally, the last aim is to further identify and explore potential mechanisms and phenotypes of kidney disease in participants of the WTC Health Programs. Regardless of whether the analyses support or reject these hypotheses, the findings will be of equally great public health importance. Successful completion of the proposed research would address a critical knowledge gap regarding the risk of kidney damage among this group of patients, and would inform future mechanistic studies with the potential to impact prevention.