SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Cancer Incidence and Mortality among Firefighters: An Overview of Epidemiologic Systematic Reviews.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Firefighter cancer risks: a systematic review and proposal for a volunteer-specific decontamination model.Journal of occupational health · 2026Pooled it
- Epidemiology and Risk Factors for Testicular Cancer: A Systematic Review.European urology · 2025Pooled it
- Non-cancer health risks in firefighters: a systematic review.Epidemiology and health · 2022Pooled it
- Ethical Handling of Occupational Health and Safety Data in the Fire Service: Empirical Interview and Focus Group Study of Firefighter and Fire Service Leadership Privacy Preferences.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Calibration-free benzene sensor for fire environments based on interband cascade laser absorption spectroscopy near 5Applied physics. B, Lasers and optics · 2026Article
- Evaluation of the effects of exposure to heavy metals in rescue dogs and their role as environmental biomonitors after the Brumadinho disaster, Minas Gerais, Brazil.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Development and Evaluation of the Firefighter Exposure to Carcinogens Scale.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- The value of occupational health and safety data: Perceptions of current data practices in the fire service.Journal of safety research · 2025Article
- Assessment of cancer biomarkers in the Grenfell firefighter cohort study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cohort Profile: The Registry-based Epidemiological Study of Cancer in Fire Unit and Emergency Officers (RESCUE) cohort.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Examination of Firefighting as an Occupational Exposure Criteria for Lung Cancer Screening.Lung · 2024Article
- Toward the future of firefighter gear: Assessing fluorinated and non-fluorinated outer shells following simulated on-the-job exposures.Journal of industrial textiles · 2023Article
- Testicular germ cell tumour risk by occupation and industry: a French case-control study - TESTIS.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2023Article
- Military occupation and testicular germ cell tumour risk among US Air Force servicemen.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2023Article
- Firefighting and Cancer: A Meta-analysis of Cohort Studies in the Context of Cancer Hazard Identification.Safety and health at work · 2023Review
- Cancer and Potential Prevention with Lifestyle among Career Firefighters: A Narrative Review.Cancers · 2023Review
- Risk Factors for Testicular Cancer: Environment, Genes and Infections-Is It All?Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
- Parental occupations at birth and risk of adult testicular germ cell tumors in offspring: a French nationwide case-control study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Cancer in female firefighters: The clinicobiological, psychological, and social perspectives.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Firefighters are exposed to carcinogens that may increase their risk of developing many types of occupational cancer. Many systematic reviews (SRs) have been produced with sometimes conflicting conclusions. In this overview of reviews, we aim to assess the conclusion consistency across the available systematic reviews on the cancer risk in firefighters. Literature searches were conducted in several indexed databases and grey literature to retrieve systematic reviews aiming to evaluate cancer incidence or cancer mortality in firefighters. Results from included SRs were analyzed according to the tumour site. Out of 1054 records identified by the search in the databases, a total of 11 SRs were ultimately included. The original studies (n = 104) analyzed in the SRs were published between 1959 and 2018. The results consistently reported a significant increase in the incidence of rectal, prostate, bladder and testicular cancers as well as mesothelioma and malignant melanoma in firefighters compared to the general population. The SRs also indicate that death rates from rectal cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are higher among firefighters. Consistent SR results suggest that several types of cancer may be more frequent in firefighters than in the general population.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.