Mortality and cancer incidence in stockholm fire fighters

Abstract

Fire fighters are exposed to irritating, asphyxiating, and toxic gases and aerosols, to psychological stress, and to physically demanding work. Due to differences in fire fighting techniques, exposure conditions for fire fighters differ among different countries. The purpose of this investigation was to study cancer incidence and mortality in fire fighters who have been working with fire fighting methods used in Sweden from the beginning of this century onwards. All male fire fighters employed for at least 1 year in the City of Stockholm during 1931-1983 were traced, and an index of the number of fires fought was calculated for each individual. The mortality during 1951-1986 (among 1, 116 fire fighters) was lower than expected (SMR = 82; 95% confidence interval 72-91) compared with local mortality rates, with a low mortality in circulatory diseases, obstructive lung diseases, violent deaths, and suicides. The cancer incidence in 1958-1986 was equal to the expected (SMR = 100; 95% confidence interval 83-119). However, an excess of stomach cancer (18 observed vs. 9.37 expected; SMR = 192, 95% CI 114-304) was observed. There was also a tendency for higher incidence and mortality in stomach and brain cancer with increasing number of fires. There were four deaths from brain cancer compared to 0.8 expected (SMR = 496; 95% CI 135-1270) in the highest exposure category. Fire fighters are, however, not systematically exposed to known stomach or brain carcinogens, and the results need confirmation in further studies with extensive exposure evaluations.

Mortality in Florida professional firefighters, 1972 to 1999

“…Consistent with the results from other cohort studies [Beaumont et al, 1991;Demers et al, 1992;Guidotti, 1993;Tornling et al, 1994;Baris et al, 2001], we found significant decreases in mortality from infectious, allergic/endocrine, circulatory system, respiratory, digestive, and genitourinary diseases, and from external causes. We did not find an increased mortality from cardiovascular or respiratory disease.…”

“…While Mastromatteo [1959] reported an increased mortality for cardiovascular-renal disease, more recent studies have found significant decreases in heart disease mortality among firefighters in Boston and in Sweden [Musk et al, 1978;Tornling et al, 1994]. Most epidemiological studies do not show an excess mortality risk from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in firefighters as compared to the general population [Scannell and Balmes, 1995].…”

Occupational risk factors and prostate cancer in U.S. Blacks and Whites

“…Another study reported a significantly increased risk for prostate cancer among firefighters under the age of 65, although no relation was seen with duration of exposure [Siemiatycki et al, 1987]. In other studies of firefighters [Guidotti et al, 1993;Tornling et al, 1994], risk for prostate cancer was only slightly elevated. Risk for prostate cancer was not previously identified among stationary engineers [Kelsh et al, 1997].…”

Analysis of the impact of harmful factors in the workplace on functioning of the respiratory system of firefighters

“…Another factor is the place of work, which draws the attention of study authors, who confirm the presence of respiratory disease symptoms associated with occupational exposure in firefighters [5,6]. In terms of etiopathogenetic mechanisms responsible for the appearance of the symptoms discussed above, it must be taken into account that the overlap, spread over years of work, of small inhalation injuries, which at one time did not lead to acute changes, but may initiate or aggravate chronic pathological processes that will reveal themselves in the future [17,18]. The second stage of the study pertained to clinical and laboratory tests in patients in whom a subjective test revealed the presence of symptoms such as cough, sputum, shortness of breath.…”