Response to Letter to the Editor on Sleep, Obesity, and Injury Among US Male Career Firefighters

Details

• Personal Author:
  Day RS ; Delclos GL ; Haddock CK ; Jahnke SA ; Jitnarin N ; Kaipust CM ; Poston WSC
• Description:
  We appreciate the great interest and comments provided on our paper, ''Sleep, Obesity, and Injury Among US Male Career Firefighters.'' We address Gao's et al perceptions on the health and safety of US male firefighters, the study limitations they expressed concern about, and provide clarification on other issues raised. Point No. 1: Use of self-report of physical activity (SRPA) based VO2max estimation in a ''Highly Fit Population.'' Gao's et al primary criticism about using the non-exercise VO2max model, involving the SRPA rating, for male firefighters is based upon their argument that firefighters are a ''highly fit population.'' Objectively, a highly fit occupational group would have a low prevalence of individuals who are overweight or obese. However, as we clearly reported in our paper, firefighters are not ''highly fit.'' The prevalence of overweight or obesity was more than 81% among one of the largest samples of US male career firefighters examined to date. Our finding that overweight and obesity is a major problem in the fire service is in line with more than two decades of research documenting poor body composition in the US fire service. Importantly, firefighters get less fit over time with some studies showing they gain between 1.2 and 3.4 pounds per year throughout their career. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Firefighters Men Occupational Health Safety Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders
• Keywords:
  BMI Body Mass Index Fire Fighters Injuries Obesity Physical Fitness Sleep Disorders
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Kansas ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 7 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  62
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20059933
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2020 Jun; 62(6):e290-e291
• Contact Point Address:
  Christopher M. Kaipust, PhD, MPH, 1920 W 143rd Street, Suite 120, Leawood, KS 66224
• Email:
  kaipust@ndri.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bb45f83adca8e3b887f609f4e61ad11825895381be806aba00419f796a0f993b886e2049ea1f63254112402b7f19646d0f92637538138238d381fa908747bfe7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223986/cdc_223986_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 109.26 KB ]