Are Inflammatory Markers an Indicator of Exposure or Effect in Firefighters Fighting a Devastating Wildfire? Follow-up of a Cohort in Alberta, Canada.

Concentrations of persisting inflammatory markers in the plasma of firefighters deployed to a devastating fire decreased with time and were related to estimates of exposure. Although not a powerful independent predictor of later respiratory ill-health, they may serve as an indicator of previous high exposure in the absence of contemporary exposure estimates.