Firefighters tested sauna after smoke exposure
Urine markers were lower on average after infrared sauna, but the small trial could not establish a clear difference from standard care.
Worth knowing: PAHs are chemicals formed during combustion. This trial did not measure lead, mercury or other heavy metals.
The short version
After live-fire training, 24 firefighters were assigned to standard care or an added infrared sauna session. The sauna group had lower average urine concentrations of smoke-related PAH metabolites over the following 12 hours. The uncertainty range included no difference. This is a useful intervention study, but it concerns smoke chemicals, not heavy metals. Lower urine concentrations alone also do not establish how much pollutant left the body or whether health improved.
Keep in mind
The sauna estimate was uncertain, and urinary metabolites are not a direct measurement of total body burden.
What they found
The estimated difference in total urinary PAH metabolites was 43.5% lower with sauna, with a 95% confidence interval from 68.8% lower to 2.2% higher.
What this means for your practice
This preliminary result does not establish sauna as a substitute for reducing exposure or decontamination.
Methods and limitations
What the researchers did
The added session lasted 20 minutes at 49°C, after initial decontamination and showering. A separate part of the paper assessed changes in fireground procedures.
How much can this tell us?
The significant reductions from improved fireground procedures belong to another comparison. They must not be presented as proof of the sauna intervention.
What makes it useful
- Randomized comparison
- Urine collected across 12 hours
What limits it
- 24 firefighters
- Uncertain estimate
- No long-term health outcome
Where this study fits
Where this study fits
We score claims, not single studies. This one is part of the evidence for:
Infrared sauna after a fire lowers urinary smoke-exposure markers. Not supported
Very low certaintyNo effect foundBody signals
Read the original
Burgess JL et al. Evaluation of Interventions to Reduce Firefighter Exposures. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine. 2020.
DOI 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001815 · PubMed 31977921