Suicide Mortality in United States Urban Career Firefighters and Emergency Medical Service Providers

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventive Medicine
• Personal Author:
  Singh, Ankura ; Zeig-Owens, Rachel ; Moline, Tyrone ; Cannon, Madeline F. ; Goldfarb, David G. ; Choi, Jaeun ; Hall, Charles B. ; Prezant, David J.
• Description:
  Objective: Evidence regarding whether first responders have elevated suicide rates is mixed. We investigated if career firefighters and emergency medical service providers (EMS) had increased suicide mortality compared with general populations. Methods: We included two occupational cohorts of responders employed by United States urban fire departments: 32,925 FDNY firefighters and EMS employed between 9/11/2001-12/31/2023, and 11,917 non-FDNY responders employed between 9/11/2001-12/31/2009. Follow-up started at the later of hire date or 9/11/2001 and ended at earliest of death date or 12/31/2023. We obtained death data from the National Death Index. Demographic-specific US and NYC suicide rates were used to calculate standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95% CIs. Multivariable extended Cox models with time-dependent variables assessed associations between select characteristics and suicide in FDNY responders. Results: FDNY firefighters had lower suicide rates than US (SMR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.27, 0.51) and NYC adults (SMR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.41, 0.77). FDNY EMS suicide rates and non-FDNY responders' rates were not significantly different from general population rates. Suicide risk factors included posttraumatic stress disorder (hazard ratio HR = 5.44, 95% CI = 2.60, 11.40) and depression symptoms (HR = 5.41, 95% CI = 2.72, 10.77). Conclusions: Among nearly 45,000 career first responders, suicide rates were not elevated compared with general populations. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Emergency Responders
  • Firefighters
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
  • Suicide
• Keywords:
  • Suicide
  • Emergency medical services workers
  • EMS
  • Fire fighters
  • Mortality rates
  • Cohort studies
  • Mental health
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • PTSD
  • Occupational exposure
  More +
• ISSN:
  0091-7435
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; New York City Region OSHA
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• Volume:
  209
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071807
• Citation:
  Prev Med 2026 Aug; 209:108608
• Contact Point Address:
  Rachel Zeig-Owens, Fire Department of the City of New York, 9 MetroTech Center - 1PP - 11E-03, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
• Email:
  Rachel.Zeig-Owens@fdny.nyc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  Fire Department of the City of New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  2022/09/05
• End Date:
  2026/09/04
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/260031/cdc_260031_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 540.62 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:642f81b730b13f11f30fa56cfe9bfc3c9ed7bdc528b942ae23dd8f40fb0e036304e3d9602d4ea875495516fcf3065af8df57d5739b7a9ae1a21e69f362bd62dc