Parkinson's Disease among Firefighters : A Focused Review on the Potential Effects of Exposure to Toxic Chemicals at the Fire Scene

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have found that firefighters have a tenfold higher prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) compare to the general population. Firefighters are constantly exposed to various occupational hazards including toxic chemicals of fire residue and the toxic chemicals can effects development and progression of PD. Nevertheless, there were no studies about the association between exposure to chemical byproducts of combustion and the development of PD among firefighters. Thus the aim of this study is to look into existing researches regarding the effect of chemical byproducts of combustion on the development of PD. An extensive literature search was conducted to identify harmful chemical components of smoke and fire residue, using the PubMed database during November of 2016. We searched for relevant articles by combining several keywords that contained “Parkinson's disease” and each of the different toxic chemicals, yielding a total of 1401 articles. After applying the selection criteria, 12 articles were chosen. Chemical substances reported to have a harmful effect on PD, in at least one article, were carbon monoxide, toluene, manganese and lead. Carbon monoxide and metal substances including manganese and lead were found to be associated with an increased PD risk in more than two articles. There was a heightened risk of PD in firefighters due to exposure of chemical byproducts of combustion including carbon monoxide, toluene, man-ganese and lead. However, to the best of our knowledge, to support this result we need more systematic epidemiological studies about these risk factors of PD among firefighters. In addition, further studies for the effects of prolonged exposure to toxic fire residue on the development and progression of PD in firefighters are needed.