Birth Defects Associated with Paternal Firefighting in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Almli LM ; Hollerbach BS ; Jahnke SA ; Olshan AF ; Omari A ; Rocheleau CM ; Siegel MR
• Corporate Authors:
  National Birth Defects Prevention Network
• Description:
  Background: Few studies have evaluated birth defects among children of firefighters. We investigated associations between birth defects and paternal work as a firefighter compared to work in non-firefighting and police officer occupations. Methods: We analyzed 1997-2011 data from the multi-site case-control National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Cases included fetuses or infants with major structural birth defects and controls included a random sample of live-born infants without major birth defects. Mothers of infants self-reported information about parents' occupations held during pregnancy. We investigated associations between paternal firefighting and birth defect groups using logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Referent groups included families reporting fathers working non-firefighting and police officer jobs. Results: Occupational groups included 227 firefighters, 36,285 non-firefighters, and 433 police officers. Twenty-nine birth defects were analyzed. In adjusted analyses, fathers of children with total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR) (OR=3.1; 95% CI=1.1-8.7), cleft palate (OR=1.8; 95% CI=1.0-3.3), cleft lip (OR=2.2; 95% CI=1.2-4.2), and transverse limb deficiency (OR=2.2; 95% CI=1.1-4.7) were more likely than fathers of controls to be firefighters versus non-firefighters. In police-referent analyses, fathers of children with cleft palate were 2.4 times more likely to be firefighters than fathers of controls (95% CI=1.1-5.4). Conclusions: Paternal firefighting may be associated with an elevated risk of birth defects in offspring. Additional studies are warranted to replicate these findings. Further research may contribute to a greater understanding of the reproductive health of firefighters and their families for guiding workplace practices. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Family Firefighters Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Urogenital System
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Firefighting Birth Defects Case Control Studies Families Fire Fighters Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Paternal Exposure Reproductive Effects Reproductive Health
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Kansas ; North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  30-40
• Volume:
  66
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066404
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2023 Jan; 66(1):30-40
• Contact Point Address:
  Miriam Siegel, DrPH, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Field Studies and Engineering, 1090 Tusculum Ave. Mailstop R-15, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
• Email:
  wrm9@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3abd809e7676fa0a9a0da24cef76550ff25e7241704ddd375f1c57f9ebbea27af84527de889d0f237a5e7a479605f22493473a28d286f18f664d944c1073e9e8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212851/cdc_212851_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 732.19 KB ]