Mortality in a Cohort of US Firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia: An Update

Details

• Personal Author:
  Beaumont, James J. ; Bertke SJ ; Dahm, Matthew M. ; Daniels R ; Hales, Thomas R. ; Kubale, Travis L. ; Pinkerton L ; Purdue M ; Yiin J
• Description:
  Objectives: To update the mortality experience of a previously studied cohort of 29,992 US urban career firefighters compared with the US general population and examine exposure-response relationships within the cohort. Methods: Vital status was updated through 2016 adding 7 years of follow-up. Cohort mortality compared with the US population was evaluated via life table analyses. Full risk-sets, matched on attained age, race, birthdate and fire department were created and analysed using the Cox proportional hazards regression to examine exposure-response associations between select mortality outcomes and exposure surrogates (exposed-days, fire-runs and fire-hours). Models were adjusted for a potential bias from healthy worker survivor effects by including a categorical variable for employment duration. Results: Compared with the US population, mortality from all cancers, mesothelioma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and cancers of the oesophagus, intestine, rectum, lung and kidney were modestly elevated. Positive exposure-response relationships were observed for deaths from lung cancer, leukaemia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Conclusions: This update confirms previous findings of excess mortality from all cancers and several site-specific cancers as well as positive exposure-response relations for lung cancer and leukaemia. New findings include excess NHL mortality compared with the general population and a positive exposure-response relationship for COPD. However, there was no evidence of an association between any quantitative exposure measure and NHL. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cohort Studies Epidemiology Firefighters Neoplasms Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Cancer Cancer Rates Cohort Studies Dose-response Dose Response Fire Fighters Firefighters Longitudinal Studies Longitudinal Study Mortality Studies
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Colorado ; District of Columbia ; Maryland ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; OD - Office of the Director ; WTCHP - World Trade Center Health Program ; DSR - Division of Safety Research ; DSI - Division of Science Integration ; EID - Education and Information Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  84-93
• Volume:
  77
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058190
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2020 Feb; 77(2):84-93
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr James Yiin, Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
• Email:
  jyiin@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• 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:c140e680bb332a7cb74c03b9689dd1a0cd46fc5385ef91528570727e0a730a7dc064d30fdcacccc173d9a081446e181383adf66cb2732dd3ba058494d90b2f47
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221325/cdc_221325_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 297.93 KB ]