China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
The Toxic Environment and Its Medical Implications with Special Emphasis on Smoke Inhalation
Published in Jacob Loke, Pathophysiology and Treatment of Inhalation Injuries, 2020
Jacob Loke, Richard A. Matthay, G. J. Walker. Smith
Although firefighters are not at an increased risk for developing chronic obstructive airway disease or severe impairment in lung function, they do have an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease and on-duty physical injuries. Physical fitness programs should be implemented for firefighters to decrease the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease and on-duty physical injuries (Barnard and Anthony, 1980). In addition, we believe it should be mandatory for firefighters to wear a protective respiratory device (self-contained air breathing apparatus) during firefighting.
Investigating links between diet and health outcomes
Published in Geoffrey P. Webb, Nutrition, 2019
When two variables A and B are found to be associated, there are several possible explanations of this association. It could be that A causes B (cause and effect) or that B causes A (effect and cause). A positive correlation between the number of firefighters attending a fire and the damage caused is probably because more firefighters attend the worse fires i.e. effect and cause. In Figure 4.3 seen earlier, the association between inactivity and obesity risk could mean that inactivity is a cause of obesity or it could be that overweight and obese people find exercise more stressful and unpleasant and so curtail their activity. If one could show that activity level in lean people predicted their future risk of becoming obese, this would strengthen the hypothesis that inactivity causes weight gain.
Epidemiology of Adult Obesity
Published in James M. Rippe, Lifestyle Medicine, 2019
R. Sue, Nattinee Jitnarin, Michelle L. Vidoni, Christopher M. Kaipust, Austin L. Brown
Poston et al.191 examined the relationship between obesity and missed work days due to injury in a large group of male, career firefighters in the midwestern U.S. Obese firefighters missed between 2.7 and 5 times more (depending on obesity Class) the number of days due to injury when compared to normal weight firefighters, even after adjustments for potential confounders. They also computed the economic costs of absenteeism for firefighters who were at increasing levels of overweight and obesity compared to normal weight firefighters. When compared to normal weight firefighters, the additional costs to fire departments because of the greater missed days of work after injury in firefighters who were overweight, Class I obese, and Class II and III obese combined were estimated to be $74.41, $254.00, and $1,682.90 per firefighter, respectively.191
Blood pressure responses are dependent on call type and related to hypertension status in firefighters
Published in Blood Pressure, 2023
Paige J. Rynne, Cassandra C. Derella, Carly McMorrow, Rachel L. Dickinson, Stephanie Donahue, Andrew A. Almeida, Megan Carty, Deborah L. Feairheller
Clinical characteristics are presented in Table 1. One hundred and eleven data points were included in the analysis which reports on 2930 total BP readings, with an average of 26.4 BP readings per 12-h shift. During the 111 shifts, firefighters logged 186 total calls that were captured by ABP monitoring. Data included is from 100 (90.1%) male firefighters and 11 (9.9%) female firefighters. Firefighters reported an average of 17.3 years of service as a municipal firefighter, with 56 (50.5%) reporting more than 15 years of service. In all, 74 (66.7%) of the firefighters in our study were hypertensive according to clinical seated BP guidelines. Furthermore, 12 firefighters had stage 2 hypertension, with a seated resting BP of ≥140 mmHg systolic or ≥90 mmHg diastolic. Firefighters were informed of the clinical BP measurements that were collected. If they were hypertensive, it was suggested that they follow-up with their clinician. Anecdotal reports from some of the participants were that they started to monitor their own BP levels while on shift, so the study raised awareness within the crews of the increased risk of hypertension. Between the hypertension groups, height (p = .02, d = 0.49), weight (p = .00, d = 1.0), and BMI (p = .00, d = 0.76) were higher in the hypertensive firefighters.
Identifying factors that contribute to structural firefighter heat strain in North America
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2022
Roger Barker, Xiaomeng Fang, Shawn Deaton, Emiel DenHartog, Huipu Gao, Robert Tutterow, Marni Schmid
We received responses from 2949 firefighters from locations across the USA and Canada. Responses came from firefighters from all geographical regions of the country. The firefighter responders hold different ranks, and had different years of service, as shown in Figure 1a. Most firefighters responding came from a career fire department (55.9%) and a significant number are members of a volunteer department (19.2%). A large proportion of the firefighters (21.1%) came from a department with both career and volunteer firefighters. As a population (Figure 1b), the firefighters who responded held various ranks and jobs in the fire department, including firefighters (40%), company officers (32.3%) and chief officers (20.2%). Approximately 75% had more than 10 years in the fire service (Figure 1c). Some (3.2%) of responding firefighters had more than 40 years of service. The average service time of the surveyed population is 19.1 years.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health comorbidity in firefighters
Published in Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 2022
Nattinee Jitnarin, Sara A. Jahnke, Walker S. C. Poston, Christopher K. Haddock, Christopher M. Kaipust
Firefighting is an inherently dangerous occupation with a broad range of emergency response operations, including fire suppression, responding to natural disasters and domestic attacks, and providing emergency medical services (Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 2018). Thus, serving as a firefighter increases the risk of repeated exposure to physical and emotional trauma and occupational stressors. Such experiences have been associated with an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Del Ben, Scotti, Chen, & Fortson, 2006; Jahnke, Poston, Haddock, & Murphy, 2016) and subclinical PTSD symptomatology (Tomaka, Magoc, Morales‐Monks, & Reyes, 2017). Evidence also suggests that frequent occurrence of job-related critical incidents can be as stressful for firefighters as exposure to major disasters (Jahnke et al., 2016; Sattler, Boyd, & Kirsch, 2014). The prevalence of PTSD among firefighters has been found to be greater than that found in the general U.S. population, 3–5% (Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson, 1995; Kilpatrick et al., 2013), ranging from 6% to 37% (Del Ben et al., 2006; Haslam & Mallon, 2003; Tomaka et al., 2017). This discrepancy of PTSD prevalence in fire service and the general population is alarming and a significant concern because of the physical and mental comorbidities and disabilities associated with PTSD (Bowden, 1992; Kessler, 2000). Notably, the nature of firefighters’ repeated exposure to trauma increases their risk relative to the general population for trauma- and stress-related challenges (Jahnke et al., 2016).