P.2.37 Spanish firefighter’s 10-year follow-up study on cancer mortality

IntroductionFirefighters are exposed to different occupational risks in their work, some of which are carcinogenic. However, there has no studies on investigating the mortality of this group of workers in Spain. The objective of this study is to compare the mortality rate of all cancer sites in firefighters with the rest of employed workers.MethodsMortality was calculated from a longitudinal study between 2001–2011. A total of 9.5 million men aged from 20 to 64 years with employment in 2001 were followed. For all cancer sites, the standardized mortality rate (SMR) has been calculated by age per 1 00 000 person per year and the rate ratios (RT) have been estimated for firefighters versus the rest of employed workers with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).ResultsThe overall mortality of cancer in firefighters is not statistically different from that observed in the rest of the employed workers (RT=1.00 (95% CI 0.89–1.12)). For most cancer sites, no significant differences were observed in the mortality rates between firefighters versus the rest of employed workers, the exceptions were cancers of the hypopharynx and larynx cancer, which had a higher magnitude in firefighters, whose mortality rate ratios were 2.96 (1.31–6. 69) and 1.77 (1.01–3.09), respectively.ConclusionExposure to occupational risks factors may be responsible for excess mortality from hypopharyngeal and larynx cancer in firefighters. In the future, more research is needed on the health of firefighters and strengthening preventive policies for these workers.