Duke, N.C. Research Campus study to focus on firefighter health

By EMILY FORD, Salisbury Post

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Firefighters have a deadly job. But flames and collapsing buildings are only some of the dangers they face. Others are silent killers — cancer and heart disease.

Firefighters are more likely than the general population to develop several types of cancer, including testicular cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. They’re also at higher risk for coronary heart disease.

To understand these risks and help find ways to live long after they’ve fought their last blaze, Kannapolis firefighters have turned to Duke University’s Murdock Study at the

The study, named for campus founder and Dole Food chairman David Murdock, will enroll 45 firefighters this week. The epidemiologic research project aims to enroll 50,000 people overall and identify genomic similarities across major chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and arthritis.

For details, read the

Get the latest news alerts: at Twitter.