Cardiovascular risks in firefighters: implications for occupational health nurse practice

Details

• Personal Author:
  Byczek L ; Conrad KM ; Reichelt PA ; Samo DG ; Walton SM
• Description:
  Limited cardiovascular risk data are available for firefighters. This cross sectional study of data collected during annual physical examinations described the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among firefighters (N = 200) and examined relationships between body mass index (BMI) and other cardiovascular risk factors. Evidence based guidelines were used to determine prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and Framingham risk scoring was used to estimate probability of coronary heart disease (CHD). Firefighters ranged in age from 22 to 64 with a mean of 41. The prevalence of obesity, elevated total cholesterol, and elevated blood pressure in firefighters exceeded Healthy People 2010 targets. In addition, their prevalence of obesity, low high density lipoprotein (HDL), high low density lipoprotein (LDL), and high total cholesterol levels was higher relative to the general population. Elevated body mass index (BMI) values had positive significant (p < or = .01) associations with elevated blood pressures, triglycerides, and glucose levels, and a negative significant (p < .05) association with lower HDL cholesterol levels. Fire department worksite health and fitness policies and programs should proactively target firefighters' cardiovascular risks. Future firefighter related intervention research will benefit from considering not only the individual determinants of cardiovascular disease, but also the ecological framework that includes the influences of workplace and external environmental factors. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Body Weight Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Firefighters Health Personnel Men Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Body-weight Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Fire-fighters Humans Hypertension Occupational-diseases Occupational-health Occupational-health-nursing Risk-factors Weight-factors

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• ISSN:
  0891-0162
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  66-76
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039134
• Citation:
  AAOHN J 2004 Feb; 52(2):66-76
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19930701
• Source Full Name:
  AAOHN Journal - American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Journal
• End Date:
  20030630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0567f659d305f5336048a99e470245e3ee308bb5f3a89704151e018ff26311a1f1ee388c0fa319210b29c68c89dffee3bfa06b71b15d1369c31e3be0dd7c0c98
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192601/cdc_192601_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 77.23 KB ]