Sasha
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Found this while looking up something for the "What Shape Should EMT/Paramedics be in?" thread.
Obesity Winning Out Against Firefighters, Paramedics
Full Article Here: http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/13336
Obesity Winning Out Against Firefighters, Paramedics
Full Article Here: http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/13336
BOSTON, March 19 -- The obesity epidemic has reached even into the once elite ranks of fire and emergency responders, researchers found.
More than 75% of young firefighter and paramedic recruits in Massachusetts were overweight or obese, Stefanos N. Kales, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues reported online in the journal Obesity.
And the added girth wasn't muscle, according to the retrospective study.
Firefighters, ambulance personnel, and police who aren't physically fit enough to perform their strenuous duties could compromise their own safety and that of their fellow emergency responders and the public, the researchers noted.
"Traditionally, these professions recruited persons of above average fitness from a pool of healthy young adults," they said.
But recruiters now find themselves in the shallow end of the pool drawing from an increasingly heavy population already manifesting obesity-related complications, they added.