Affiliations: [a]
Universidade de Brasılia, Faculdade de Educação Física, Brasılia, Brazil | [b]
Universidade de Brasılia, Grupo de Estudos em Fisiologia e Epidemiologia do Exercício e da Atividade Física (GEAFS), Brasılia, Brazil | [c]
Federal District Military Firefighter Brigade CBMDF, Brasilia, Brazil
| [d]
First Responder Health and Safety Laboratory, Department of Health and Human Physiological Sciences, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Luiz Guilherme Grossi Porto, B.P.E., MSc., PhD., Universidade de Brasılia, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, Brasılia, DF, 70910-900, Brazil. E-mails: luizporto@unb.br; luizggporto@gmail.com; lgporto@hsph.harvard.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Firefighting is a physically demanding profession. Firefighters (FFs) need adequate physical fitness (PF) to perform duty tasks efficiently. While FFs’ work demands are constant throughout their career, there is an expected age-related decline in PF. OBJECTIVE:To describe longitudinal changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) based on a fixed (12.0 METs) and an age-adjusted standard and compare the prevalence of fit/unfit firefighters (FFs) over eight years. METHODS:297 Brazilian male firefighters were randomly selected. CRF was assessed by the 12-minute Cooper test. To compare the prevalence’s of fit/unfit FFs depending on the standard (12 METs vs. age-adjusted), the McNemar test was used. RESULTS:The reduction in the prevalence of fit firefighters was 4.4-fold higher when the analysis did not consider age. CONCLUSION:After eight years, the prevalence of fit FFs decreased by 30.5% based on the fixed standard, while this reduction was only 7% when using an age-adjusted standard.
Keywords: Occupational health, aging, body mass index
