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. 2023 Jan;66(1):30-40.
doi: 10.1002/ajim.23441. Epub 2022 Nov 22.

Birth defects associated with paternal firefighting in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

Miriam R Siegel  1 , Carissa M Rocheleau  1 , Brittany S Hollerbach  2 , Amel Omari  1 , Sara A Jahnke  2 , Lynn M Almli  3 , Andrew F Olshan  4 ; National Birth Defects Prevention Study
Affiliations

Birth defects associated with paternal firefighting in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

Miriam R Siegel et al. Am J Ind Med. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have evaluated birth defects among children of firefighters. We investigated associations between birth defects and paternal work as a firefighter compared to work in non-firefighting and police officer occupations.

Methods: We analyzed 1997-2011 data from the multi-site case-control National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Cases included fetuses or infants with major structural birth defects and controls included a random sample of live-born infants without major birth defects. Mothers of infants self-reported information about parents' occupations held during pregnancy. We investigated associations between paternal firefighting and birth defect groups using logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Referent groups included families reporting fathers working non-firefighting and police officer jobs.

Results: Occupational groups included 227 firefighters, 36,285 non-firefighters, and 433 police officers. Twenty-nine birth defects were analyzed. In adjusted analyses, fathers of children with total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR; OR = 3.1; 95% CI = 1.1-8.7), cleft palate (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.0-3.3), cleft lip (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.2-4.2), and transverse limb deficiency (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.1-4.7) were more likely than fathers of controls to be firefighters, versus non-firefighters. In police-referent analyses, fathers of children with cleft palate were 2.4 times more likely to be firefighters than fathers of controls (95% CI = 1.1-5.4).

Conclusions: Paternal firefighting may be associated with an elevated risk of birth defects in offspring. Additional studies are warranted to replicate these findings. Further research may contribute to a greater understanding of the reproductive health of firefighters and their families for guiding workplace practices.

Keywords: birth defects; firefighting; occupational health; paternal exposure; reproductive health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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