TY - JOUR T1 - Comparison of cancer incidence and mortality in the Norwegian Fire Departments Cohort, 1960–2018 JF - Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO - Occup Environ Med DO - 10.1136/oemed-2022-108331 SP - oemed-2022-108331 AU - Niki Marjerrison AU - Jarle Jakobsen AU - Paul A Demers AU - Tom K Grimsrud AU - Johnni Hansen AU - Jan Ivar Martinsen AU - Karl-Christian Nordby AU - Marit B Veierød AU - Kristina Kjærheim Y1 - 2022/05/19 UR - http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2022/05/18/oemed-2022-108331.abstract N2 - Objectives Elevated risk of cancer at several sites has been reported among firefighters, although with mixed findings. The purpose of this study was to calculate standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for cancer and compare them to assess whether use of the different measures could be a source of inconsistencies in findings.Methods The Norwegian Fire Departments Cohort, comprising 4295 male employees who worked at 15 fire departments across Norway, was linked to health outcome registries for the period 1960–2018. SIRs and SMRs were derived using national reference rates.Results Overall, we observed elevated incidence of colon cancer (SIR, 95% CI 1.27, 1.01 to 1.58), mesothelioma (2.59, 1.12 to 5.11), prostate cancer (1.18, 1.03 to 1.34) and all sites combined (1.15, 1.08 to 1.23). Smaller, non-significant elevations were found for mortality of colon cancer (SMR, 95% CI 1.20, 0.84 to 1.67) and mesothelioma (1.66, 0.34 to 4.86), while SMR for prostate cancer was at unity. Potential errors were observed in some of the mortality data, notably for mesothelioma cases. Among those who died of cancer, 3.7% (n=14) did not have a prior diagnosis of malignancy at the same site group.Conclusions Assessment of incidence or mortality did not greatly influence the interpretation of results. The most prominent differences in SIR and SMR appeared to be due to inconsistencies between sites of cancer diagnosis and cause of death. The difference in SIR and SMR for prostate cancer suggested a detection bias from differential screening practices.Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the CRN (cohort data and cancer data) and the National Population Register (death and emigration data) but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Requests for data sharing/case pooling for projects with necessary approvals and legal basis according to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may be directed to principal investigator Dr Krisitna Kjærheim; email: kristina.kjaerheim@kreftregisteret.no. ER -