Mortality and life expectancy of professional fire fighters in Hamburg, Germany: a cohort study 1950 – 2000

Table 5 Standardized mortality ratios by risk factors

	N	Observed	Expected	Person years	SMR	95% CI
Year of employment	4557
Employed on 1. Jan 1950	981	802	943.7	31702.2	0.85	0.79–0.91
1950–1954	125	47	71.5	5334.6	0.66	0.49–0.88
1955–1959	408	82	122	16300.8	0.67	0.54–0.83
1960–1964	384	50	74.8	13926.4	0.67	0.50–0.88
1965–1969	428	43	73.7	14109.8	0.58	0.42–0.79
1970–2000	2231	28	59.6	30421.9	0.47	0.31–0.68
Predominant type of tasks	4470
Fire fighting and rescue service	4116	972	1237.2	104685.4	0.79	0.74–0.84
Administrative jobs as fire fighter	354	26	49	5087.8	0.53	0.35–0.78
Rank groups	4309
Middle ranks [see note]	3631	900	1101	89142.8	0.82	0.77–0.87
High ranks	632	72	150.2	18172.4	0.48	0.38–0.60
Higher ranks	46	14	17.3	1243.9	0.81	0.44–1.36
Combined: high and higher ranks	678	86	167.5	19416.3	0.51	0.41–0.63
Reasons for leaving	2124
Own request	236	33	29.5	4033.1	1.12	0.77–1.57
Early retirement	469	131	96.9	4989.6	1.35	1.13–1.60
Regular retirement	1419	644	816.2	16409.8	0.79	0.73–0.85

Note: Reference for the calculations is the German general population. The "middle rank" is actually the lowest group a fire fighter can join.

ISSN: 1476-069X