Lung function and health status in metropolitan fire-fighters compared to general population controls

Purpose To assess health status of South Australian (SA) metropolitan fire-fighters in terms of lung function and health-related quality of life, compare these with general population controls, and explore associations between fire-fighters’ self-reported occupational exposure and health status. Met...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International archives of occupational and environmental health 2010-10, Vol.83 (7), p.715-723
Main Authors: Schermer, Tjard, Malbon, Trish, Morgan, Michael, Briggs, Nancy, Holton, Christine, Appleton, Sarah, Adams, Robbert, Smith, Michael, Crockett, Alan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dose-response effects
Dust
Earth and Environmental Science
Employment
Environment
Environmental Health
Firefighters
Fires
Health
Health Status
Healthy Worker Effect
Human exposure
Humans
Linear Models
Lungs
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Occupational Exposure - adverse effects
Occupational health
Occupational Health - statistics & numerical data
Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine
Original Article
Quality of life
Quality of Life - psychology
Regression analysis
Rehabilitation
Respiration
Respiratory function
Respiratory Function Tests - statistics & numerical data
Respiratory system
Smoke
Smoke inhalation
South Australia
Surveys and Questionnaires
Tobacco, tobacco smoking
Toxicology
Urban Population
Young Adult
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Summary:Purpose To assess health status of South Australian (SA) metropolitan fire-fighters in terms of lung function and health-related quality of life, compare these with general population controls, and explore associations between fire-fighters’ self-reported occupational exposure and health status. Methods The study was a cross-sectional comparison of (respiratory) health indices between 501 fire-fighters and 1,324 general population controls taken from the North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS). All were men aged 21 to 61. Measurements included spirometry (i.e., forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ), forced vital capacity (FVC), mid-expiratory flow (FEF 25–75 ) and the Short Form 36 (SF-36) health-related quality of life questionnaire. Results Health status in the fire-fighters was generally better than in NWAHS controls. Mean % predicted FEV 1 and FVC were 103.4% [SD 12.1] versus 89.5% [13.7] and 110.0% [11.6] versus 88.5% [12.5] (both p  
ISSN:0340-0131
1432-1246
DOI:10.1007/s00420-010-0528-0