Authors
Pinkerton L; Bertke SJ; Yiin J; Dahm M; Kubale T; Hales T; Purdue M; Beaumont JJ; Daniels R
Source
Occup Environ Med 2020 Feb; 77(2):84-93
Abstract
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.
Keywords
Fire fighters; Cancer rates; Cohort studies; Mortality studies; Longitudinal study; Epidemiology; Dose response;
Author Keywords: Cancer; dose-response; epidemiology; firefighters; longitudinal studies; mortality studies
Contact
Dr James Yiin, Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
Document Type
Journal Article
Email Address
jyiin@cdc.gov
NIOSH Division
DFSE; DSHEFS; OD; WTCHP; DSR; DSI; EID
Priority Area
Public Safety
Source Name
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
