Combining Three Cohorts of World Trade Center Rescue/Recovery Workers for Assessing Cancer Incidence and Mortality

Robert M. Brackbill, Amy R. Kahn, Jiehui Li, Rachel Zeig-Owens, David G. Goldfarb, Molly Skerker, Mark R. Farfel, James E. Cone, Janette Yung, Deborah J. Walker, Adrienne Solomon, Baozhen Qiao, Maria J. Schymura, Christopher R. Dasaro, Dana Kristjansson, Mayris P. Webber, Roberto G. Lucchini, Andrew C. Todd, David J. Prezant, Paolo Boffetta and Charles B. Hall
Additional contact information
Robert M. Brackbill: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Amy R. Kahn: Bureau of Cancer Epidemiology, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12237, USA
Jiehui Li: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Rachel Zeig-Owens: Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
David G. Goldfarb: Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Molly Skerker: Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Mark R. Farfel: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
James E. Cone: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Janette Yung: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Deborah J. Walker: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Adrienne Solomon: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
Baozhen Qiao: Bureau of Cancer Epidemiology, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12237, USA
Maria J. Schymura: Bureau of Cancer Epidemiology, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12237, USA
Christopher R. Dasaro: Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Dana Kristjansson: Department of Genetics and Bioinformatics, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0456 Oslo, Norway
Mayris P. Webber: Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Roberto G. Lucchini: Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Andrew C. Todd: Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
David J. Prezant: Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Paolo Boffetta: Stony Brook Cancer Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
Charles B. Hall: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Three cohorts including the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR), and the General Responder Cohort (GRC), each funded by the World Trade Center Health Program have reported associations between WTC-exposures and cancer. Results have generally been consistent with effect estimates for excess incidence for all cancers ranging from 6 to 14% above background rates. Pooling would increase sample size and de-duplicate cases between the cohorts. However, pooling required time consuming steps: obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals and legal agreements from entities involved; establishing an honest broker for managing the data; de-duplicating the pooled cohort files; applying to State Cancer Registries (SCRs) for matched cancer cases; and finalizing analysis data files. Obtaining SCR data use agreements ranged from 6.5 to 114.5 weeks with six states requiring >20 weeks. Records from FDNY ( n = 16,221), WTCHR ( n = 29,372), and GRC ( n = 33,427) were combined de-duplicated resulting in 69,102 unique individuals. Overall, 7894 cancer tumors were matched to the pooled cohort, increasing the number cancers by as much as 58% compared to previous analyses. Pooling resulted in a coherent resource for future research for studies on rare cancers and mortality, with more representative of occupations and WTC- exposure.

Keywords: World Trade Center; exposure; cancer; rescue and recovery workers; pooling cohorts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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