A new study on 9/11 related illnesses Indicates that PTSD connected to the terrorist attacks of September 11 may be linked to premature death.

According to the new research, people who suffered PTSD as a result of the terrorist attacks were found to be twice as likely to die early of any cause, and three times as likely to die of suicide or in an ancient. 

US News says that the research was collected using data from the National Death Index and the New York City Department of Health’s World Trade Center Health Registry. Authors of the study say that the new research may provide better insight into how PTSD affects mortality than previous knowledge indicates because the new study was done by measuring PTSD over time, as opposed to just once.

According to St. Louis University’s Jeffrey Scherrer, who co-wrote an editorial elucidating the study, if PTSD is only measured once, as opposed to measured multiple times over a lifetime, research may underestimate the likelihood of death associated with PTSD. Hopefully, the new research may be able to help understand the long term impact of PTSD.

Dr. Jacqueline Moline, professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, reviewed the new 9/11 related illnesses research. She noted that “it’s time to broaden how we think about the impact of mental health conditions on overall health.” Taking a more long-range look at how PTSD affects both mental and physical health may give more insight into how the two are connected.

At the same time, Moline did say that it would be helpful to understand if treating PTSD could help decrease a person’s risk of early death — the flip side of the coin.

The importance of understanding the long-term effects of PTSD was elucidated in the study in that the research indicated that the longer a person had PTSD, the more likely they were to die prematurely. This was examined by studying a group of 64,000 emergency responders and civilians over a 13-year period.

Over 13 years, first-responders who were diagnosed with PTSD right after the terrorist attacks were 63 percent more likely to die of any cause, and 100 percent more likely from dying of a heart attack. The study stated that this group was not shown to be more at risk for accidental death or suicide. 

In the case of civilians, they were 54 percent more likely to die prematurely of any cause — 74 percent more likely to die of heart disease, and 100 percent more likely to die of external causes, including accidents and suicide.

Research has indicated that 9/11 survivors are at risk for a number of lingering health effects, even almost two decades after the attacks themselves. The World Trade Center Health Program reports that more than 37,000 individuals suffer from at least one medical condition related to the terrorist attacks, and these rates reportedly continue to rise as the years go by.

Unfortunately, discovering the nature of the link between 9/11 and health effects that have developed after the fact has been hard to clarify, explains Healthline, particularly because some of the conditions developed slowly, making 9/11 related illness difficult to identify.

The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund was enacted by Congress shortly after the terrorist attacks and may be able to help those affected by 9/11 illnesses even today.