7.1 THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF LIVE FIREFIGHTING ON ARTERIAL FUNCTION IN FIREFIGHTERS

• Main Authors: Alexander Rosenberg, Kanokwan Bunsawat, Tommy Wee, Tracy Baynard, Gavin Horn, Denise Smith, Bo Fernhall
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Atlantis Press 2016-11-01
• Series: Artery Research
• Online Access: https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125930428/view

Background: Aging is associated with increased arterial stiffness and wave reflection, which is predictive of all-cause cardiovascular (CV) mortality (1–3). Firefighters have the highest cardiovascular mortality of any occupational group (4). High levels of heat stress, physical exertion, and elevated arterial stiffness (5) during/following firefighting provide a susceptible milieu for CV events. Purpose: To describe the differential effects of age following live firefighting on cardiac, arterial function and wave reflection. Methods: Firefighters aged 18–37yrs (n=18, YA) or 38–55yrs (n=17, MA) participated in a staged 12-minute live firefighting scenario. Blood pressures (BP), pulse wave analysis, pulse wave velocity (PWV) and hemodynamic measurements were obtained at rest, immediate and 30 minutes post-firefighting using an automated ambulatory blood pressure monitor (Mobil-O-Graph, I.E.M, Germany). Results: YA increased heart rate and PWV more than MA in response to live firefighting (p<0.01). YA also decreased systemic arterial compliance (p<0.01) immediately post-firefighting more compared to MA, which returned to baseline values at 30-minutes. MA had higher PWV, total vascular resistance, and diastolic BP than YA (p<0.01). Systolic BP, pulse pressure, and reflective magnitude increased immediately post-firefighting for YA (p<0.01) but not in MA (p>0.05). Conclusions: Young and MA firefighters exhibit differential cardiovascular responses to live firefighting. Although MA had higher PWV, diastolic BP and higher peripheral resistance they exhibited attenuated changes following live firefighting. Thus, arterial and hemodynamic parameters in younger firefighters appeared to change in a direction associated with increased risk to a greater degree than observed in older firefighters.