ArticlePloS one2018
Exposure to a firefighting overhaul environment without respiratory protection increases immune dysregulation and lung disease risk.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations of cognitive function with recent and cumulative per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure in firefighters.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Article
- Association of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure with cognitive function in firefighters.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Respiratory Health Impacts from Natural Disasters and Other Extreme Weather Events: The Role of Environmental Stressors on Asthma and Allergies.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2025Review
- The Effect of Fitness on Performance, Exertion, and Cognition During Simulated Firefighter Occupational Tasks.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Relationships between effective safety training, safety knowledge and personal protective equipment related behaviors among firefighters.Journal of safety research · 2024Article
- "Air That Once Was Breath" Part 2: Wildfire Smoke and Airway Disease - "Climate Change, Allergy and Immunology" Special IAAI Article Collection: Collegium Internationale Allergologicum Update 2023.International archives of allergy and immunology · 2024Review
- Cancer and Potential Prevention with Lifestyle among Career Firefighters: A Narrative Review.Cancers · 2023Review
- Wildland fire, air pollution and cardiovascular health: is it time to focus on the microvasculature as a risk assessment tool?Frontiers in physiology · 2023Review
- Hierarchy of contamination control in the fire service: Review of exposure control options to reduce cancer risk.Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene · 2022Review
- The Wildland Firefighter Exposure and Health Effect (WFFEHE) Study: Rationale, Design, and Methods of a Repeated-Measures Study.Annals of work exposures and health · 2022Article
- Examination of Factors Influencing SCBA Washing Behavior among Firefighters in Metropolitan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Airborne contamination during post-fire investigations: Hot, warm and cold scenes.Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene · 2022Article
- Associations between polyfluoroalkyl substance and organophosphate flame retardant exposures and telomere length in a cohort of women firefighters and office workers in San Francisco.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2021Article
- Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances in a Cohort of Women Firefighters and Office Workers in San Francisco.Environmental science & technology · 2020Article
- Management of Firefighters' Chemical & Cardiovascular Exposure Risks on the Fireground.International fire service journal of leadership and management · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Firefighting activities appear to increase the risk of acute and chronic lung disease, including malignancy. While self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) mitigate exposures to inhalable asphyxiates and carcinogens, firefighters frequently remove SCBA during overhaul when the firegrounds appear clear of visible smoke. Using a mouse model of overhaul without airway protection, the impact of fireground environment exposure on lung gene expression was assessed to identify transcripts potentially critical to firefighter-related chronic pulmonary illnesses. Lung tissue was collected 2 hrs post-overhaul and evaluated via whole genome transcriptomics by RNA-seq. Although gas metering showed that the fireground overhaul levels of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen cyanine (HCN), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and oxygen (O2) were within NIOSH ceiling recommendations, 3852 lung genes were differentially expressed when mice exposed to overhaul were compared to mice on the fireground but outside the overhaul environment. Importantly, overhaul exposure was associated with an up/down-regulation of 86 genes with a fold change of 1.5 or greater (p<0.5) including the immunomodulatory-linked genes S100a8 and Tnfsf9 (downregulation) and the cancer-linked genes, Capn11 and Rorc (upregulation). Taken together these findings indicate that, without respiratory protection, exposure to the fireground overhaul environment is associated with transcriptional changes impacting proteins potentially related to inflammation-associated lung disease and cancer.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.