Blood pressure and heart rate responses in volunteer firefighters while wearing personal protective equipment.

BACKGROUND

Hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and obesity are global health problems and are a large concern for firefighters. The leading cause of death among firefighters is cardiac-related; hence, it is important to understand how firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE) affects cardiovascular responses to different activities. Volunteer firefighters represent 70% of all firefighters and are an understudied population. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report blood pressure (BP) responses in volunteer firefighters.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Thirty-six male, nonsmoking volunteer firefighters (27.8±9.7 years) underwent two maximal treadmill tests within 2 weeks, one in regular gym clothes and one in PPE. We found that while wearing PPE, which weighs 54.2±3.5 lbs, BP responses are exaggerated during work and in recovery. Systolic BP and heart rate were significantly (P<0.05) higher at each submaximal stage and during active recovery of the PPE test compared with the regular clothing test (15-23 mmHg and 20-34 bpm higher, respectively). Test time and VO2 max were lower in the PPE test (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

BP responses are exaggerated while wearing full fire protective gear and remain elevated during recovery. Awareness of how firefighting activities affect BP is important; so future studies should examine how the BP increase relates to resting BP levels, to PPE weight, and to the thermal effects of the PPE.