Exposure-response relationships for select cancer and non-cancer health outcomes in a cohort of US firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia (1950-2009)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baris D ; Beaumont, James J. ; Bertke S ; Dahm, Matthew M. ; Daniels, Robert D. ; Hales, Thomas R. ; Kubale, Travis L. ; Pinkerton LE ; Waters, Kathy M. ; Yiin JH ; Zahm SH
• Description:
  Objectives: To examine exposure-response relationships between surrogates of firefighting exposure and select outcomes among previously studied US career firefighters. Methods: Eight cancer and four non-cancer outcomes were examined using conditional logistic regression. Incidence density sampling was used to match each case to 200 controls on attained age. Days accrued in firefighting assignments (exposed-days), run totals (fire-runs) and run times (fire-hours) were used as exposure surrogates. HRs comparing 75th and 25th centiles of lagged cumulative exposures were calculated using loglinear, linear, log-quadratic, power and restricted cubic spline general relative risk models. Piecewise constant models were used to examine risk differences by time since exposure, age at exposure and calendar period. Results: Among 19,309 male firefighters eligible for the study, there were 1,333 cancer deaths and 2,609 cancer incidence cases. Significant positive associations between fire-hours and lung cancer mortality and incidence were evident. A similar relation between leukaemia mortality and fire-runs was also found. The lung cancer associations were nearly linear in cumulative exposure, while the association with leukaemia mortality was attenuated at higher exposure levels and greater for recent exposures. Significant negative associations were evident for the exposure surrogates and colorectal and prostate cancers, suggesting a healthy worker survivor effect possibly enhanced by medical screening. Conclusions: Lung cancer and leukaemia mortality risks were modestly increasing with firefighter exposures. These findings add to evidence of a causal association between firefighting and cancer. Nevertheless, small effects merit cautious interpretation. We plan to continue to follow the occurrence of disease and injury in this cohort. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Environmental Monitoring Firefighters Hematologic Diseases Lung Lung Diseases Men Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Safety

  More +
• Keywords:
  Analytical-models Blood-disorders Cancer Cancer-rates Dose-response Employee-exposure Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Leukemogenesis Lung-cancer Mathematical-models Mortality-data Risk-analysis Surveillance-programs

  More +
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Maryland ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  72
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045742
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2015 Oct; 72(10):699-706
• Contact Point Address:
  Robert D. Daniels, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, IWSB, 1090 Tusculum Avenue, Mailstop R-13, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
• Email:
  rtd2@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:455acef80cfb5b2a59d3d09b66b688b4ad82736897bb339a2a011654a18c4fe81e7b6cb14270bafb0f937952d004efc17f9ec096414cb5c30672f2aaabd400c2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/201041/cdc_201041_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 448.07 KB ]