Retrospective Longitudinal Evaluation of Male Firefighter's Body Composition and Cardiovascular Health.

OBJECTIVE: Describe firefighter body composition and cardiovascular health as a function of age. METHODS: 217 male firefighters with 1922 distinct evaluations over 23-years were included in this retrospective analysis. The firefighters had their height, mass, six-site skin-fold, blood pressure, and resting heart rate measured annually. Linear mixed models were used to analyze the effect of age. Significance was set to P < 0.05. RESULTS: With each 1-year increase in age, mass (0.42 kg, P < 0.001), body mass index (0.13 kg m-2, P < 0.001), body fat percentage (0.18%, P < 0.001), fat mass (0.25 kg, P < 0.001), and fat free mass (0.15 kg, P < 0.001) increased. Systolic blood pressure (-0.09 mm Hg, P = 0.263), diastolic blood pressure (0.05 mm Hg, P = 0.308), and resting heart rate (0.07 beats min-1, P = 0.291) did not change. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to maintain healthy body composition are critical to reduce sudden cardiovascular related death risk.