Cancer, Reproductive, and Cardiovascular Diseases Program

Workers working

The Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular, and Other Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CRC) provides leadership in the prevention of a number of different work-related diseases and conditions. The CRC Program works with partners in industry, labor, trade associations, professional organizations, and academia focusing on preventing and reducing occupational cancer, adverse reproductive outcomes related to work, cardiovascular disease (CVD) among workers; and occupational neurologic and renal diseases.

Featured Items

CRC Program Performance One-Pager.  An up-to-date snapshot of CRC’s mission, goals, activities, and accomplishments.

National Firefighter Registry

The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2018external icon” requires that NIOSH establish a registry of firefighters to track their incidence of cancer. The registry was established to better understand the link between on-the-job exposure to toxicants and cancer, and will be used to track and analyze cancer trends and risk factors among the U.S. fire service to help find better ways to protect those who protect our communities.

How can researchers quickly and easily examine current trends in chronic conditions among workers?

Person viewing Worker Health Charts (WHC) on 2 computers.

NIOSH offers a web application that lets users chart worker health data that may be difficult to find or are not charted elsewhere.

Known as the Worker Health Charts (WHC), users select from dropdown options to create charts that display rates, distribution, and trends in safety and health topics among workers by factors such as race, gender, ethnicity, and industry/occupation?. In assessing chronic conditions, data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and the NHIS Occupational Health Supplement allow users to explore trends in chronic conditions, such as cancer, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Cross-Sector Description

The mission of the Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular and Other Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CRC) is to provide national and international leadership for the prevention of work-related diseases across diverse populations using a scientific approach to gather and synthesize information, create knowledge, provide recommendations, and deliver multicultural products and services to those who can affect prevention. The CRC Program works with partners in industry, labor, trade associations, professional organizations, and academia focusing on preventing and reducing chronic disease burden. As the name implies, the concentration of projects within this program includes work-related research related to many types of cancer, reproductive health, and cardiovascular disease; and occupational neurologic and renal diseases.

Manufacturing, healthcare, mining, and public safety are examples of industrial sectors in which workers may experience exposures that increase risk of work-related cancer, cardiovascular disease, and adverse reproductive outcomes such as infertility, birth defects, and developmental disorders. Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to night or shift work contributes to occupational cancer, reproductive problems and CVD rates. Neurologic and renal diseases are emerging areas that CRC looks to address in reducing future burden of disease. Lastly, we are increasingly interested in how health disparities and differences in health equity impact development, promotion, burden, intervention, and prevention of occupational chronic disease.

Research Priorities

The Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular and Other Chronic Disease Prevention Program has selected research priorities on the basis of burden, need, and impact and collaborated with other NIOSH research programs to write the research goals in the NIOSH Strategic Plan for FYs 2019-2023. The priority areas of research include:

  • Preventing neurologic disorder related to pesticides and renal diseases related to occupational exposures among workers in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Sector
  • Reducing hazardous exposures that can result in cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes among Healthcare and Social Assistance workers
  • Preventing exposures to known carcinogens that may cause cancer, adverse reproductive outcomes, and neurologic disorders among Manufacturing workers
  • Reducing exposure to hazardous airborne contaminants that cause lung cancer and mesothelioma in Mining workers
  • Preventing exposures to known or suspected carcinogens and risk factors for cardiovascular disease among Public Safety workers
  • Reducing cardiovascular disease among Services workers through modified work practices
  • Reducing cardiovascular disease and obesity among Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities workers through work organization best practices
Accomplishments

Program Performance One-Pager (PPOP): The Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular, and Other Chronic Disease Prevention (CRC) Program Performance One-Pager (PPOP) offers a snapshot of NIOSH programs’ priorities, strategies used to make progress towards priorities, recent accomplishments, and upcoming work.

Impact Sheets: The CRC Impact Sheets briefly describe an occupational safety or health hazard, the specific NIOSH or NIOSH-funded research activity that was conducted to address the hazard, the resulting impact or recommendations, and relevant statistics. The most recent sheets include.

Other Impacts

  • Based on our findings that Firefighters have an increased risk of cancer, on July 9, 2018 the President signed legislation “The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2018external icon” requiring that NIOSH establish a registry of firefighters to track their incidence of cancer.
To learn more

Resource and Topic Pages

More information and useful resources on cancer, reproductive, and other chronic diseases can be found on the following topics pages:

The National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Council

The CRC program helps lead the Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular, and Other Chronic Disease Prevention (CRC) Cross-Sector Council, which brings together individuals and organizations to share information, form partnerships, and promote adoption and dissemination of solutions that work. The Council seeks to facilitate the most important research, understand the most effective intervention strategies, and learn how to implement those strategies to achieve sustained improvements in workplace practice. The final version of the research agenda for the CRC council can be found here.

Contact the Cancer, Reproductive, and Other Chronic Disease Prevention Program with any questions at crcprogram@cdc.gov

Page last reviewed: September 24, 2019