1. Cardiorespiratory Fitness of Firefighters
- Author
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Erin C. Schwartz, Thomas McDonough, Zeke J. McKinney, Mark Dickinson, Maria N. Starchook-Moore, Trista L. Nash, Kevin Ronneberg, Kara Hirdman, Sandra L. Thelen, Dani M. Bredeson, Nicolaas P. Pronk, Ralph S. Bovard, and Min Xi
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Waist ,Multivariate analysis ,business.industry ,Rowing ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Univariate ,VO2 max ,Cardiorespiratory fitness ,030210 environmental & occupational health ,Body fat percentage ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Physical therapy ,Medicine ,business ,Body mass index - Abstract
OBJECTIVE To address which body composition (BC) measures best correlate with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in firefighters and develop a model for accurate CRF estimation compared with traditional methods. METHODS Career firefighters had body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) measured in addition to body fat percentage (FM%) by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). CRF as maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) was estimated by rowing machine and measured by indirect calorimetry in a treadmill exercise test. RESULTS Fifty two firefighters participated (92.3% men). Univariate correlations with BMI were best with WC. Univariate correlations with VO2max were best with FM%. Obesity classifications by BC measures agreed weakly at best. Multivariate analysis of several variables yielded an improved VO2max estimate (R2 = 0.70). CONCLUSIONS Fire departments may benefit from more sophisticated measures of BC and CRF to evaluate firefighter fitness.
- Published
- 2020
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