Risk for cancer is 3x higher
In the largest study ever conducted of cancer risk among career firefighters in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that firefighters on average are at higher risk for certain kinds of cancer than the general population.
Researchers studied cancer rates for 29,993 firefighters in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia between 1950 and 2009. They found that more than two-thirds of firefighters – 68 percent – develop cancer, compared to about 22 percent for the general population, no matter the race or gender.
Cancers of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems accounted mostly for the higher rates of cancer seen in the study population. The higher rates suggest that firefighters are more likely to develop those cancers. Some cancers, like prostate and bladder cancers, were seen in higher-than-expected rates among younger firefighters.
The population of firefighters in the study had a rate of mesothelioma two times greater than the rate in the U.S. population as a whole. This was the first study ever to identify an excess of mesothelioma in U.S. firefighters. The researchers said it was likely that the findings were associated with exposure to asbestos, a known cause of mesothelioma.
The CDC also found that firefighters who were exposed to more fires than their peers experienced more instances of lung cancer and leukemia, said Robert Daniels, a research epidemiologist at NIOSH. Specifically, when comparing firefighters to each other, the chance of lung cancer diagnosis or death increased with amount of time spent at fires. And the chance of leukemia death increased with the number of fire runs.
The following list represents various types of cancer and their increased risk for firefighters over the general population:
• Testicular cancer, 102%
• Multiple myeloma, 53%
• Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 51%
• Skin cancer, 39%
• Brain cancer, 32%
• Prostate cancer, 28%
• Stomach cancer, 22%
• Intestinal tract cancer, 21%
For more information:
• NIOSH Fire Fighter Cancer Study Website
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/firefighters/ffcancerstudy
• NIOSH Science Blog: Is There a Link Between Firefighting and Cancer? – Epidemiology in Action, http://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2014/12/17/cancer-ff/
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/firefighters/pdfs/FAQ-NIOSHFFCancerStudy.pdf