Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Firefighters: A Prospective Cohort Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Christiani, David C. ; Hauser R ; Kales SN ; Kawachi I ; Liarokapis D ; Soteriades ES
• Description:
  Obesity, despite being a significant determinant of fitness for duty, is reaching epidemic levels in the workplace. Firefighters' fitness is important to their health and to public safety. We examined the distribution of BMI and its association with major cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in Massachusetts firefighters who underwent baseline (1996) and annual medical examinations through a statewide medical surveillance program over 5 years of follow-up. We also evaluated firefighters' weight change over time. The mean BMI among 332 firefighters increased from 29 at baseline to 30 at the follow-up examination (2001), and the prevalence of obesity increased from 35% to 40%, respectively (p < 0.0001). In addition, the proportion of firefighters with extreme obesity increased 4-fold at follow-up (from 0.6% to 2.4%, p < 0.0001). Obese firefighters were more likely to have hypertension (p = 0.03) and low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (p = 0.01) at follow-up. Firefighters with extreme obesity had an average of 2.1 CVD risk factors (excluding obesity) in contrast to 1.5 CVD risk factors for normal-weight firefighters (p = 0.02). Finally, on average, normal-weight firefighters gained 1.1 pounds, whereas firefighters with BMI > or = 35 gained 1.9 pounds per year of active duty over 5 years of follow-up. Obesity is a major concern among firefighters and shows worsening trends over time. Periodic medical evaluations coupled with exercise and dietary guidelines are needed to address this problem, which threatens firefighters' health and may jeopardize public safety. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Firefighters Occupational Health Public Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Fire-fighters Hypertension Occupational-health Public-health Risk-analysis Risk-factors Surveillance-programs
• ISSN:
  1071-7323
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  13
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20029363
• Citation:
  Obes Res 2005 Oct; 13(10):1756-1763
• Contact Point Address:
  Stefanos N. Kales, MD, MPH, The Cambridge Hospital, Department of Medicine, Employee and Industrial Medicine, 1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
• Email:
  skales@challiance.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Health Services Research
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard University, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19980930
• Source Full Name:
  Obesity Research
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:31953a1f97f3f799dbd92f1c1269870ebc9846687fecd750c7c6736c1c644bc8b36b552f3ab5c4bd6952c41f482a451615e965ba7a35fbb68c091f5477416e32
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/190354/cdc_190354_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 668.08 KB ]