Cedars-Sinai Study: Cardiac Causes Account for 43% of U.S. Firefighter Line-of-Duty Deaths, and the Share Is Rising
Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California, released a study on October 21 reviewing 3,401 firefighter line-of-duty deaths recorded by the U.S. Fire Administration (1990–2025). Cardiac causes accounted for 43 percent of the deaths, the largest single category. The study was published in JACC: Advances.
Analyzing pre-pandemic data from 1990 to 2019, the researchers found that the odds of a line-of-duty death being cardiac rose 2.2 percent per year, even as cardiac mortality odds in the general population fell 1.3 percent per year. Beyond coronary artery disease, more deaths were linked to thickened heart muscle, a risk that standard exercise stress tests may miss, the study said.
Senior author Alan Kwan, an assistant professor of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute, said firefighters' occupational exposures and work patterns make their cardiac risk distinct from the general public's and call for more targeted screening. Susan Cheng, chair of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai, also commented on the findings.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Cedars-Sinai 医疗中心标识。图：Wikimedia Commons「Adolph Hallgarten (1835 Mainz-1885 Wiesbaden) , aeltester Bruder Charles Hallgartens.JPG」，Public domain 授权。 / Photo: a Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sign. Source: Wikimedia Commons ("Adolph Hallgarten (1835 Mainz-1885 Wiesbaden) , aeltester Bruder Charles Hallgartens.JPG"), Public domain.
