Key points
- The Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular, and Other Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CRC) provides leadership in preventing work-related chronic diseases.
- The Program includes emerging occupational diseases, such as neurological and renal illnesses.
- The CRC program partners with industry, labor, trade associations, professional organizations, and academia to reduce chronic disease burden.
Overview
To learn More
The CRC provides national and international scientific leadership on work-related chronic disease prevention across diverse populations.
The CRC aims to
- Conduct research on occupational cancer in worker populations
- Identify risk of work-related adverse reproductive outcomes (ARO)
- Assess risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) from workplace exposures
- Investigate emerging chronic diseases
- Share findings to parties interested in CRC prevention efforts
- Promote use of CRC research by well-respected organizations
- Form external collaborations to assess workplace risks
Manufacturing, healthcare, and mining are examples of industries in which workers may experience exposures that increase chronic disease risk.
Program priorities
The CRC has selected research priorities based on burden, need, and impact for the NIOSH Strategic Plan for FYs 2019-2026.
Priority occupational health areas include:
- Cancer incidence
- ARO incidence
- CVD incidence
- Neurologic and renal (kidney) disease incidence
What we've accomplished
In 2022-2023, the CRC Program:
- Reported cell culture findings on how co-exposure to metal-based nanocatalysts and UVB light experienced by manufacturing workers affect skin tumor development.
- Completed an animal study on inhaled copper-nickel welding fumes exposure and lung inflammation that could impact manufacturing, oil and gas, and marine workers.
- Found evidence of an association between whole-body vibration, experienced in many worker populations, and changes in reproductive health in both females and males in an animal model.
- Published a NIOSH Science Blog on health concerns related to shiftwork among police officers. Key findings showed that shiftwork may lead to poor sleep quality, may increase job-related injuries and absences, may increase stress and depression, and is associated with biological changes that could indicate an increased risk for heart disease.
- Reported that identifying and discussing assumptions, such as gender bias and worker weight, in risk assessment can impact appropriate use of occupational exposure limits.
- Translated several CRC-related materials to Spanish and other languages to increase accessibility to affected service, transportation, and production worker populations.
- Held public webinars on occupational physical activity and the impacts on cardiovascular health as well as firefighting as a carcinogen.
What's ahead
In the future, the CRC Program aims to:
- Develop priorities and collaborations on occupational risk factors for neurological and renal diseases.
- Support efforts to evaluate occupational PFAS-related chronic disease and reduce PFAS exposures in U.S. workplaces.
- Increase surveillance efforts in wildland urban interface firefighters to identify unknown burdens, research needs, and intervention strategies.
- Complete a study on motor and cognitive neurologic outcomes in a manganese-exposed cohort.
- Publish a study on firefighter body absorption of carcinogenic contaminants with various turnout gear.
Resources
More information on workplace safety and health topics can be found here:
- Occupational Cancer
- Reproductive Health and the Workplace
- Cardiovascular Disease and Occupational Factors
NORA Council
The CRC program helps lead the Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular, and Other Chronic Disease Prevention (CRC) Cross-Sector Council. The Council brings together individuals and organizations to share information, form partnerships, and promote adoption and dissemination of solutions that work.