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The influence of cardiometabolic risk factors on cardiorespiratory fitness in volunteer Chilean firefighters
Author(s) -
Espinoza Fernando,
DelgadoFloody Pedro,
MartínezSalazar Cristian,
JerezMayorga Daniel,
GuzmánGuzmán Iris Paola,
CaamañoNavarrete Felipe,
RamirezCampillo Rodrigo,
Chamorro Claudio,
CamposJara Christian
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.23280
Subject(s) - cardiorespiratory fitness , medicine , waist , blood pressure , abdominal obesity , body mass index , vo2 max , overweight , volunteer , obesity , physical fitness , anthropometry , physical therapy , demography , heart rate , biology , sociology , agronomy
Objectives Maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max ) plays a fundamental role in firefighters' occupational activities due to the high intensity tasks they perform in their professional duties. In Chile, firefighters are volunteers (non‐salary) and their lack of continuous and programmed physical activity may affect their physical fitness and health. The goal of this study was to determine the influence of anthropometric parameters and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors on the cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) of volunteer Chilean firefighters. Methods Seventy‐six volunteer male firefighters (median [5‐95 percentiles]) aged 27.5 years [26‐56], body mass index (BMI) 27.7 kg m −2 [19.9‐35], and VO2 max 44 mL kg −1 min −1 [36‐56]) participated in the study. The following variables were assessed: BMI, fat mass%, body density, waist circumference (WC), waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), blood pressure, blood glucose, and VO2 max . Results In total, 68% of the samples were overweight or obese. A total of 36% presented abdominal obesity (WC ≥102 cm). High blood pressure (HBP) was observed in 25% of firefighters and high blood glucose was found in about 20%. The presence of abdominal obesity was the strongest predictor of VO2 max (OR = 12.35, 95% CI = 3.56‐42.82, P < .001), followed by the WHR (OR = 11.5, 95% CI = 3.1‐42.7, P < .001) and high blood glucose (OR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.7‐7.3, P = 0.019). Conclusion This study showed that abdominal obesity in firefighters was the strongest predictor of low CRF. In addition, CRF was associated with CMR factors, except for HBP.