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Blood Pressure Responses Are Dependent On Call Type And Related To Hypertension Status In Firefighters, Paige J Rynne, Cassandra C Derella, Carly Mcmorrow, Rachel L Dickinson, Stephanie Donahue, Andrew A Almeida, Megan Carty, Deborah L Feairheller
Blood Pressure Responses Are Dependent On Call Type And Related To Hypertension Status In Firefighters, Paige J Rynne, Cassandra C Derella, Carly Mcmorrow, Rachel L Dickinson, Stephanie Donahue, Andrew A Almeida, Megan Carty, Deborah L Feairheller
College of Population Health Faculty Papers
Background: Impaired cardiovascular health is a concern for firefighters, with over 50% of line-of-duty deaths having cardiac causes. Many firefighters have hypertension and <25% have their blood pressure (BP) controlled. The alarm response could be an unidentified cardiac risk, but interestingly, the BP response to different calls and on-the-job activity is unknown.
Purpose: We aimed to measure the physiological stress resulting from different call types (fire, medical) and job activity (riding apparatus, pre-alert alarms) through ambulatory BP (ABP) monitoring in a population of firefighters.
Materials and methods: During 111 12-h work shifts firefighters wore an ABP monitor. BP was measured at 30-min intervals and manual measurements were prompted when the pager went off or whenever they felt stress.
Results: Firefighters were hypertensive (124.3 ± 9.9/78.1 ± 6.7 mmHg), overweight …