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ORLANDO , Fla — Firefighters may confront a higher jeopardy of heart disease than do other parking brake responder , a small new field finds .

In the field , the researchers looked at heart disease risk factors such as blood pressing and body fat level in firefighter , paramedical and police officers , and recover that firefighters had the highest jeopardy .

firefighter

The firefighters had , on average , a 2.9 percent chance of consume a heart attack in the next 10 age , based on their peril factors , the researcher said . For comparison , the police officer had a 1.8 percentage risk on average , and the paramedics had a 1 pct risk . [ Heart Disease : Types , Prevention & Treatment ]

This result was surprising because the cogitation also notice that firefighters were the most physically active of the three group of emergency responders , the researcher sound out .

Previous survey have regain that emergency responders mostly have high rates of poor health , potentially due to theincreased levels of obesityand focus , combine with lower action story that are common among those who do this type of work .

a firefighter wearing gear stands on a hill looking out at a large wildfire

The researchers of the new subject field want to get a good agreement of emergency responders ' service line health , sound out Kelsey Moody , an exercise physiologist at Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts and lead author on the study . Moody presented the study on Tuesday ( Nov. 10 ) , here at the American Heart Association ’s Scientific Sessions meeting .

For the study , researchers recruited 37 manly emergency answerer , consisting of 12 paramedical , 12 law officer and 13 firefighters . They were all between ages 20 and 40 , and all generally healthy — none had love risk of infection factors for heart disease such as hypertension or obesity , Moody told Live Science .

The researcher measure the participants ' percentage of consistence rich , lipid story , line press and top atomic number 8 intake ( a measurement of strong-arm fitness ) . The scientist then used these measurements to aim the individuals ' Framingham Risk Score , which forecast a person ’s risk of having a heart flack in the next 10 year .

Athletic couple weight training in lunge position at health club.

Then , the emergency respondent wore accelerometer for two day , the first daytime on tariff and the 2d one off duty . The equipment measured the total number of stone’s throw the participants take and the routine of calories they cauterize . The participants also had their salivary Hydrocortone levels ( a measurement of stress ) delay in the aurora and evenings .

The research worker found no remainder in stress levels among the three group , Moody said . However , the research worker did discover that all the participant ' stress levels stayed bring up on their off - responsibility day , she enounce .

She observe that the research worker were n’t able to verify for extra accent cistron that may have occurred on the off - duty day . However , some enquiry has shown that first responder ’s can experience a sustain stress response follow an on - duty solar day .

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The firefighters had significantlyhigher blood pressureand cholesterin levels than the paramedic in the report , Moody said . But there was no remainder between the firefighters and the police officer for these risk factor , she said .

One divisor that may have influenced the overall heart disease risk , however , may have been age , Moody observe . The average historic period of the firefighters in the study was 33 , which was more or less older than that of the law officers ( 30 ) and paramedics ( 25 ) , Moody say . historic period is a very large risk broker in the Framingham Risk Score , she enounce .

In addition , previous enquiry has shown that paramedical incline to be young and often cultivate as paramedics for only a few years , Moody said . On the other hired hand , firefighters are hired at a slenderly older years , she said . They also expend many more years on the occupation , which could further magnify their ticker disease danger , she said .

Young woman exercising on a rowing machine at home

Even though the firefighters were the most active of the three groups , all of the study participant could gain fromincreasing their physical activity levels , since they were all under the recommended amount , Moody said .

The study has not been print in a peer - go over journal .

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