TY - JOUR T1 - Long term health complaints following the Amsterdam Air Disaster in police officers and fire-fighters JF - Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO - Occup Environ Med SP - 657 LP - 662 DO - 10.1136/oem.2005.024687 VL - 63 IS - 10 AU - A C Huizink AU - P Slottje AU - A B Witteveen AU - J A Bijlsma AU - J W R Twisk AU - N Smidt AU - I Bramsen AU - W van Mechelen AU - H M van der Ploeg AU - L M Bouter AU - T Smid Y1 - 2006/10/01 UR - http://oem.bmj.com/content/63/10/657.abstract N2 - Background: On 4 October 1992, a cargo aircraft crashed into apartment buildings in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Fire-fighters and police officers assisted with the rescue work. Objectives: To examine the long term health complaints in rescue workers exposed to a disaster. Methods: A historical cohort study was performed among police officers (n = 834) and fire-fighters (n = 334) who performed at least one disaster related task and reference groups of their non-exposed colleagues (n = 634 and n = 194, respectively). The main outcome measures included digestive, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, nervous system, airway, skin, post-traumatic stress, fatigue, and general mental health complaints; haematological and biochemical laboratory values; and urinalysis outcomes. Results: Police officers and fire-fighters who were professionally exposed to a disaster reported more physical and mental health complaints, compared to the reference groups. No clinically relevant statistically significant differences in laboratory outcomes were found. Conclusions: This study is the first to examine long term health complaints in a large sample of rescue workers exposed to a disaster in comparison to reference groups of non-exposed colleagues. Findings show that even in the long term, and in the absence of laboratory abnormalities, rescue workers report more health complaints. ER -