Big fat emergency: Obese rescue workers at risk, study says
Last Updated: Thursday, March 19, 2009 | 2:00 PM ET
CBC News
Heart disease is the leading cause of death among firefighters. (CBC)More than 75 per cent of young firefighter and paramedic recruits in the Boston area are burdened with excess fat, according to a new study.
Firefighters, paramedics and police who aren't physically fit enough to perform strenuous duties could compromise safety for themselves, their co-workers and the public, the researchers said.
"In particular, young recruits are expected to be at or near peak career fitness," the study's senior author, Dr. Stefanos Kales of the Harvard School of Public Health, and his colleagues wrote.
For the study, Kales's group reviewed medical exam records of 370 firefighter and ambulance recruits from two clinics in Massachusetts from 2004 through 2007.
Recruits who passed minimum criteria were between the ages of 18 and 35 with an average age of 26.3.
Fat, not muscle
Among this group, 43.8 per cent were overweight with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30 kilograms per metre squared and 33 per cent had an even higher BMI (a calculation that compares people's height and weight).
The higher BMI measurements weren't due to higher muscle mass, the researchers said, noting recruits with high BMIs also had higher total cholesterol levels, higher blood pressures and a lower exercise tolerance on a three-minute step test.
These findings set off alarms because cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal injury rank high as causes of death and disease among emergency responders, and excess body fat is linked with a higher risk for both, said the study's lead author, Antonios Tsismenakis, a second-year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine.
"These professionals perform highly psychologically and physically stressful work and are therefore at high risk for cardiovascular events," said Kales.
"Sudden incapacitation during duty puts these emergency responders, as well as their colleagues and the public, in danger."
Disability claims
Kales also pointed to economic implications, since state and federal laws award benefits to emergency responders who die or are disabled by heart attacks, cancer or work-related orthopedic problems, and obesity increases the risk for these medical problems.
An earlier study by Kales showed it's not burns and smoke inhalation that are the leading cause of death among firefighters, but heart disease.
The researchers said they hoped the findings would spur improvements in health-and-wellness programs for firefighters, as well as greater awareness so doctors become more aggressive about reducing cardiovascular risks.
Two of the study's authors reported working on workers' compensation and disability cases as potential conflicts of interest.
The research was supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
