Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major problem for firefighters, even when considering the healthy worker effect (HWE). Although volunteer firefighters outnumber paid personnel, previous research has focused on paid US firefighters. By contrast, no CHD data for Australian firefighters exist. Risk f...

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Main Authors: Wolkow, A., Netto, Kevin, Langridge, P., Green, J., Nichols, D., Sergeant, M., Aisbett, B.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Inc 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15234
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author Wolkow, A.
Netto, Kevin
Langridge, P.
Green, J.
Nichols, D.
Sergeant, M.
Aisbett, B.
author_facet Wolkow, A.
Netto, Kevin
Langridge, P.
Green, J.
Nichols, D.
Sergeant, M.
Aisbett, B.
author_sort Wolkow, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major problem for firefighters, even when considering the healthy worker effect (HWE). Although volunteer firefighters outnumber paid personnel, previous research has focused on paid US firefighters. By contrast, no CHD data for Australian firefighters exist. Risk factor data were collected from 2,943 Australian volunteer firefighters and CHD risk was compared with reference “low-risk” and Australian population data. Predicted CHD risk for male and female firefighter was 19.2% and 5.1%, respectively. Female firefighters high blood pressure and fasting glucose was significantly lower than the general population, whereas all other risk factors was similar to the general population. Firefighters’ CHD risk was greater than other volunteer and paid emergency services, but the prevalence for most risk factors was similar to the general population. Therefore, Australian volunteer firefighters may not benefit from the HWE.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-152342017-09-13T13:41:02Z Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia Wolkow, A. Netto, Kevin Langridge, P. Green, J. Nichols, D. Sergeant, M. Aisbett, B. coronary heart disease workplace occupational health Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major problem for firefighters, even when considering the healthy worker effect (HWE). Although volunteer firefighters outnumber paid personnel, previous research has focused on paid US firefighters. By contrast, no CHD data for Australian firefighters exist. Risk factor data were collected from 2,943 Australian volunteer firefighters and CHD risk was compared with reference “low-risk” and Australian population data. Predicted CHD risk for male and female firefighter was 19.2% and 5.1%, respectively. Female firefighters high blood pressure and fasting glucose was significantly lower than the general population, whereas all other risk factors was similar to the general population. Firefighters’ CHD risk was greater than other volunteer and paid emergency services, but the prevalence for most risk factors was similar to the general population. Therefore, Australian volunteer firefighters may not benefit from the HWE. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15234 10.1080/19338244.2012.750588 Taylor & Francis Inc restricted
spellingShingle coronary heart disease
workplace
occupational health
Wolkow, A.
Netto, Kevin
Langridge, P.
Green, J.
Nichols, D.
Sergeant, M.
Aisbett, B.
Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia
title Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia
title_full Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia
title_fullStr Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia
title_full_unstemmed Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia
title_short Coronary Heart Disease risk in volunteer firefighters in Victoria, Australia
title_sort coronary heart disease risk in volunteer firefighters in victoria, australia
topic coronary heart disease
workplace
occupational health
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15234