Association of Endogenous Testosterone with Physical Fitness Measures during Firefighter Occupational Health Evaluations

Luiz Guilherme Grossi Porto, Edgard M. K. V. K. Soares, Sushant M. Ranadive, Adriana Lofrano-Porto and Denise L. Smith ()
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Luiz Guilherme Grossi Porto: Study Group on Exercise and Physical Activity Physiology and Epidemiology (GEAFS), Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Physical Education, University of Brasilia—UnB, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil
Edgard M. K. V. K. Soares: Study Group on Exercise and Physical Activity Physiology and Epidemiology (GEAFS), Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Physical Education, University of Brasilia—UnB, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil
Sushant M. Ranadive: Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Adriana Lofrano-Porto: Adrenal and Gonadal Diseases Clinic, Section of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the University Hospital, University of Brasilia—UnB, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil
Denise L. Smith: Department of Health and Human Physiological Sciences, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Firefighting is a physically demanding profession associated with unacceptably high on-duty cardiovascular mortality. Low endogenous total testosterone (TT) is an emerging cardiometabolic (CM) risk factor in men, but limited data exists on its interactions with physical fitness (PF). Data from occupational health and fitness assessments of 301 male career firefighters (FFs) were analyzed. TT was categorized as low (<264 ng/dL), borderline (264–399 ng/dL), and reference (400–916 ng/dL). PF tests included cardiorespiratory fitness (submaximal treadmill), body fat percentage (BF%), push-ups, plank, and handgrip strength assessments. In the crude analyses, FFs in the low TT group had worse muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness measures compared to the referent group. However, after adjusting for age and BF%, none of the PF differences remained statistically significant. Similarly, the odds of less-fit FFs (PF performance below median values) having low TT were higher compared to the fitter ones only before adjusting for age and BF%. Therefore, in the final adjusted model, there was no significant association between TT and PF. Our data suggest that age and body fat confound the association between PF and TT. Low TT and poor PF are important components of FFs’ CM risk profile, and there is potential benefit to considering TT screening as part of a comprehensive occupational health program that manages performing medical evaluations and provides education and preventative programming.

Keywords: public safety; workforce; cardiometabolic; cardiovascular; risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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