Cancer incidence in a cohort of active firefighters in Queensland

A cohort of active Queensland firefighters in employment between 1st July 1995 and 31st December 2006, was assembled from computerised personnel records. The cohort was linked to the Queensland Cancer Registry. Expected numbers of cancers for men and women, standardised for age, were calculated using Queensland population data for the same period and standardised incidence ratios were calculated. The incidence of malignant brain tumours and of other malignant tumours was not significantly raised in male active firefighters, although melanoma incidence was found to have borderline statistically significant excess. There were twice as many benign brain tumours than expected in men, but this was based on only three observed cases and the SIR was not statistically significantly raised. The number of persons was small, the cohort young and the follow-up short so the study had limited power to detect any excess.