Abstract
2104 Heart disease has been the number one cause of death in the United States and is now the primary cause of on-duty deaths in fire. ghters. Knowledge of the prevalence of risk factors associated with the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors is critical to the development of rational prevention and intervention programs. PURPOSE: (1) Identify the prevalence CAD risk factors (RF) in a group of Southern California fire. ghters and; (2) identify trends in the development of these risk factors. METHODS: 96 male employees from a fire department in Southern California ranging in age from 25–49 yrs at the start of the data collection period were studied. Data were collected for 10 consecutive years from 1992–2001. The following variables associated with increased risk of developing CAD were measured: Body mass (BM), body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (%BF), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose concentration, total cholesterol/HDL ratio, and treadmill time. Information pertaining to family/personal history of heart disease and smoking were also obtained. Data were analyzed for the group and by age cohort. Repeated measure ANOVA and regression statistics were used to analyze the data (p<0.05). RESULTS: As a group the total number of RF significantly increased from a mean value of 1.6 ± 0.4 in 1992 to 2.3 ± 0.1 over the 10 year period. The greatest change in the number of RF occurred in the fire. ghters who were younger than 40 yrs at the start of the data collection period. Of all the RF, the most significant rates of change occurred with BM, BMI and %BF. The rates of changes were 0.75 kg (r2 = 0.897), 0.24 kg × m-2 (r2 = 0.928); and 0.56% (r2 = 0.910) per year, respectively. Two fire. ghters developed heart disease and 2 became diabetic over the course of the study. CONCLUSION: Fire. ghters appeared have a similar risk of developing CAD as the general population and should take steps to reduce risk in order to withstand the demands of the occupation.
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