Details:

Alternative Title:
Am J Cardiol
Personal Author:
Yang, Justin ; Teehan, Dennis ; Farioli, Andrea ; Baur, Dorothee M. ; Smith, Denise ; ... More +
Yang, Justin ; Teehan, Dennis ; Farioli, Andrea ; Baur, Dorothee M. ; Smith, Denise ; Kales, Stefanos N. Less -
Description:
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading cause of death in firefighters. Although on-duty SCD usually occurs in older victims almost exclusively because of coronary heart disease, no studies have examined causation across the career span. In the present retrospective case-control study, cases of SCD in young (aged ≤45 years) firefighters from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health fatality investigations (n = 87) were compared with 2 age- and gender-matched control groups: occupationally active firefighters (n = 915) and noncardiac traumatic firefighter fatalities (n = 56). Of the SCD cases, 63% were obese and 67% had a coronary heart disease-related cause of death. The SCD victims had much heavier hearts (522 ± 102 g) than noncardiac fatality controls (400 ± 91 g, p <0.001). Cardiomegaly (heart weight >450 g) was found in 66% of the SCD victims and conveyed a fivefold increase (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.93 to 12.4) in SCD risk. Furthermore, hypertension, including cases with left ventricular hypertrophy, increased SCD risk by 12-fold (95% CI 6.23 to 22.3) after multivariate adjustment. A history of cardiovascular disease and smoking were also independently associated with elevated SCD risk (odds ratio 6.89, 95% CI 2.87 to 16.5; and odds ratio 3.53, 95% CI 1.87 to 6.65, respectively). In conclusion, SCD in young firefighters is primarily related to preventable lifestyle factors. Obesity entry standards, smoking bans, and improved screening and/or wellness program are potential strategies to reduce SCD in younger firefighters.
Subjects:
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Adult Cardiovascular Diseases Case-Control Studies Death, Sudden, Cardiac Female Firefighters Humans Hypertension Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular Male Multivariate Analysis Risk Factors Smoking Young Adult
Source:
Am J Cardiol. 112(12):1962-1967
Pubmed ID:
24079519
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC7750027
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
T42 OH008416/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
Place as Subject:
United States
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:d6a3b318b93d0f0a3db370585cff83f9c8f6980ed5ba8a89bb2c52cfde0dcc98
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/99811/cdc_99811_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

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