Abstract P378: Excess Mortality Among Indiana Firefighters, 1985-2013

Introduction: Firefighters are exposed to toxic agents in combustion products at fire scenes increasing their risk for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Inconsistent findings in previous research examining excess heart disease and cancer mortality have led to the need for further investigation of cause-specific death among firefighters. Objective: Using death certificate data, we tested the hypotheses that there is no difference in the likelihood of cancer and cardiovascular mortality between firefighters and a matched population of non-firefighters from the general population. Methods: Firefighter death records (n=2,818) were exactly matched to four non-firefighter (n=11,272) death records on age at time of death, sex, race, ethnicity and year of death between 1985-2013.Underlying cause of death was coded using the 9th and 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Mortality odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals comparing firefighters to non-firefighters were calculated usin...