Cardiorespiratory Fitness Is Not Associated with Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Firefighters: A Cross-Sectional Study in South African Firefighters

Tebogo Jenniffer Moselakgomo, Takalani Clearance Muluvhu, Merling Phaswana, Ina Shaw and Brandon S. Shaw ()
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Tebogo Jenniffer Moselakgomo: Department of Sport, Rehabilitation and Dental Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Takalani Clearance Muluvhu: Department of Sport, Rehabilitation and Dental Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Merling Phaswana: Department of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
Ina Shaw: School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK
Brandon S. Shaw: School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors are frequently reported among firefighters, yet no studies have compared these factors between male and female firefighters, specifically from a low- to middle-income country (LMIC). This study aimed to determine the prevalence of CVD risk factors and their relationship with cardiorespiratory fitness (VO 2max ) in 254 active career firefighters (mean age: 42.6 ± 7.8 years). The assessments included anthropometry, blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, and VO 2max . The results indicated that 48.0% and 51.8% of females and males were pre-hypertensive, respectively. Hypertension was identified in 15.8% of the firefighters. According to body mass index (BMI), 37.3% of males and 25% of females were found to be overweight, while an additional 44.9% of males and 45.7% of females were classified as obese. Only 17.3% of males and 18.2% of females were found to be of normal weight. These findings were corroborated by categories of central obesity using waist circumference (WC), which were 47.7% for males and 41.6% for females. Low HDL-C was found in 95.2% of males and 86.4% of females, with 28.3% of males also having elevated triglyceride levels (TG). VO 2max was “excellent” in 48.8% of males and 12.6% of females, though it had no significant association with most CVD risk factors. The only notable link was a small correlation between VO 2max and triglycerides (r = −0.215; p = 0.001). These findings suggest that while cardiorespiratory fitness may have no impact, additional factors likely contribute to the cardiovascular health of firefighters, necessitating the need for comprehensive health and fitness programmes.

Keywords: aerobic capacity; cardiovascular diseases; cardiovascular health; fire man; maximal oxygen consumption; physical fitness (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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