Firefighting is a hazardous occupation that involves excess risk of deaths from accidents, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease. There is also concern that firefighters may experience excess risk of cancer, particularly since the widespread introduction of synthetic building materials and furnishings. To address this question, DCEG investigators from the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch conducted a cohort study examining the mortality rate among 7,789 firefighters employed by the City of Philadelphia between 1910 and 1987. Later, these data were pooled with other studies to form a cohort totaling 29,993 U.S. firefighters. The findings from these studies, to date, suggest that firefighters experience elevated risk of death from leukemia and digestive, respiratory, and urinary cancers.
For more information, contact Mark Purdue.
Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch - Research Areas
Publications
Pinkerton LE, Bertke S, Dahm MM, et al. End-stage renal disease incidence in a cohort of U.S. firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Am J Ind Med 2022.
Pinkerton LE, Bertke S, Yiin JH, et al. Mortality in a cohort of U.S. firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia: An update. Occup Environ Med 2020.
Daniels RD, Bertke S, Dahm MM, et al. Exposure-response relationships for select cancer and non-cancer health outcomes in a cohort of U.S. firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia (1950-2009). Occup Environ Med 2015 Oct.
Daniels RD, Kubale TL, Yiin JH, et al. Mortality and cancer incidence in a pooled cohort of U.S. firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia (1950-2009). Occup Environ Med 2014 June.
Baris D, Garrity TJ, Telles JL, et al. Cohort mortality study of Philadelphia firefighters. Am J Ind Med 2001 May.