International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Systematic Review Health Risks of Structural Firefighters from Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Jooyeon Hwang 1,* , Chao Xu 2 , Robert J. Agnew 3 , Shari Clifton 4 and Tara R. Malone 4 1 Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA 2 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA;
[email protected] 3 Fire Protection & Safety Engineering Technology Program, College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;
[email protected] 4 Department of Health Sciences Library and Information Management, Graduate College, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA;
[email protected] (S.C.);
[email protected] (T.R.M.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-405-271-2070 (ext. 40415) Abstract: Firefighters have an elevated risk of cancer, which is suspected to be caused by occupational and environmental exposure to fire smoke. Among many substances from fire smoke contaminants, one potential source of toxic exposure is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The goal of this paper is to identify the association between PAH exposure levels and contributing risk factors to Citation: Hwang, J.; Xu, C.; Agnew, derive best estimates of the effects of exposure on structural firefighters’ working environment in R.J.; Clifton, S.; Malone, T.R. Health fire. We surveyed four databases (Embase, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science) for this systematic Risks of Structural Firefighters from literature review.