The influence of firefighting on pulmonary function: a longitudinal study of the first three years of duty

Details

• Personal Author:
  Aldrich T ; Christodoulou V ; Cohen HW ; Cosenza K ; Dinkels M ; Gustave J ; Hall CB ; Kelly KJ ; Prezant DJ ; Webber MP ; Weiden MD ; Ye F
• Description:
  RATIONALE: Smoke inhalation has the potential to impair pulmonary function. After short-term exposure, the impairment is largely reversible, but few data are available regarding chronic effects. We explored pulmonary function changes over 3-4 years in a cohort of newly-hired firefighters and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers. METHODS: We examined spirometric data from approximately 6 months pre-hire and over the first 3-4 years post-hire, from all firefighters and EMS workers who had pre-employment spirometries between 1/2003 and 12/2006 and were subsequently hired by FDNY. None had World Trade Center exposure. EMS workers are not routinely exposed to smoke inhalation and served as controls. We focused our analysis on African-American and Caucasian (for whom prediction equations are reliable), male, never-smokers. We calculated percent predicted FEV1 (FEV1%), using NHANES equations. RESULTS: To date, 1,046 (83.0%) of firefighters and 145 (77.5%) of EMS workers who met our analytic criteria have had at least 3 acceptable post-hire spirometries. Baseline (pre-hire) FEV1% averaged higher for firefighters than EMS workers 98.9; (95% CI 98.3, 99.5) vs. 94.8; (93.0, 96.7) (p<0.01), reflecting more stringent fitness and pulmonary function job entry criteria. FEV1% declined by 0.68; (0.59, 0.78) percentage points/year over 3.89; (3.84, 3.94) years for firefighters and 0.81; (0.45, 1.17) percentage points/year over 3.17; (3.06, 3.27) years for EMS workers (p= 0.50) (see figure). The percentage of persons with FEV1
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Firefighters Lung Lung Diseases Men Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory Function Tests Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Smoke

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• Keywords:
  Chronic-exposure Emergency-responders Employee-exposure Employee-health Fire-fighters Humans Long-term-study Lung-disorders Lung-function Preemployment-examinations Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-function-tests Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Smoke-inhalation Spirometry Vital-capacity

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• ISSN:
  1073-449X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement ; Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  183
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044514
• Citation:
  Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2011 May; 183(Meeting Abstracts):A4803
• Contact Point Address:
  T. Aldrich, Yeshiva University, New York, NY
• Email:
  taldrich@montefiore.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  New York City Fire Department
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20040701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• Supplement:
  Meeting Abstracts
• End Date:
  20110630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4f9cdd729ed29b876c94697d08dc349c0c9616d9415166ff2bbeb0014a722a7cf97d40ba7a5dae9144090f7137f14d497a0f42a89e4d7ab4771bfdb91cb543ca
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200200/cdc_200200_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 31.25 KB ]