Details:

Alternative Title:
Environ Health
Publisher's site:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-2-14
Personal Author:
Kales, Stefanos N ; Soteriades, Elpidoforos S ; Christoudias, Stavros G ; Christiani, David C
Kales, Stefanos N ; Soteriades, Elpidoforos S ; Christoudias, Stavros G ; Christiani, David C Less -
Description:
Background

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is responsible for 45% of on-duty deaths among United States firefighters. We sought to identify occupational and personal risk factors associated with on-duty CHD death.

Methods

We performed a case-control study, selecting 52 male firefighters whose CHD deaths were investigated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. We selected two control populations: 51 male firefighters who died of on-duty trauma; and 310 male firefighters examined in 1996/1997, whose vital status and continued professional activity were re-documented in 1998.

Results

The circadian pattern of CHD deaths was associated with emergency response calls: 77% of CHD deaths and 61% of emergency dispatches occurred between noon and midnight. Compared to non-emergency duties, fire suppression (OR = 64.1, 95% CI 7.4–556); training (OR = 7.6, 95% CI 1.8–31.3) and alarm response (OR = 5.6, 95% CI 1.1–28.8) carried significantly higher relative risks of CHD death. Compared to the active firefighters, the CHD victims had a significantly higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in multivariate regression models: age ≥ 45 years (OR 6.5, 95% CI 2.6–15.9), current smoking (OR 7.0, 95% CI 2.8–17.4), hypertension (OR 4.7, 95% CI 2.0–11.1), and a prior diagnosis of arterial-occlusive disease (OR 15.6, 95% CI 3.5–68.6).

Conclusions

Our findings strongly support that most on-duty CHD fatalities are work-precipitated and occur in firefighters with underlying CHD. Improved fitness promotion, medical screening and medical management could prevent many of these premature deaths.


Subjects:
[+]
Case-Control Studies Coronary Disease Fires Humans Hypertension Male Middle Aged Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Prevalence Regression Analysis Rescue Work Risk Factors Smoking Time Factors Work Schedule Tolerance
Source:
Environ Health. 2003; 2:14.
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
OH03729/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
Name as Subject:
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U.S.)
Place as Subject:
United States
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:363416845cf7318dee2db6c12d77a8a4401d59dba8b01e25ef693015963cee8e
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/30982/cdc_30982_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

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