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Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke

One of the world’s biggest disasters are wildfires. The firefighting environment involves physical and respiratory risks, due the inhalation of fire smoke. This study aims to determine the respiratory function of firefighters exposed to wildfire smoke and explore the potential risk factors associate...

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Autores principales: Ramos, Catarina, Minghelli, Beatriz
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9323896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35886345
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148492
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author Ramos, Catarina
Minghelli, Beatriz
author_facet Ramos, Catarina
Minghelli, Beatriz
author_sort Ramos, Catarina
collection PubMed
description One of the world’s biggest disasters are wildfires. The firefighting environment involves physical and respiratory risks, due the inhalation of fire smoke. This study aims to determine the respiratory function of firefighters exposed to wildfire smoke and explore the potential risk factors associated with poor respiratory function. The sample involved 53 firefighters, aged between 23 and 60 years (39.28 ± 8.71), 41 (77.40%) male and 12 (22.60%) female, who fought in wildfires. The measurement instruments used were as follows: a scale, a stadiometer, a questionnaire, a Fagerstrom test and a spirometer. Thirty-six (67.9%) firefighters showed a restrictive pattern. Firefighters fought between 1 and 9 (3.64 ± 1.97) fires and in total between 5 and 212 (62.34 ± 46.89) h. Nineteen (52.8%) firefighters, who showed a restrictive pattern, did not perform any physical exercise (p = 0.045). Twelve (70.6%) firefighters who practiced exercise and revealed a restrictive pattern trained at least 3 or less hours weekly, whilst five (29.4%) practiced more than 3 h (p = 0.030) of weekly exercise. Twenty (55.6%) firefighters with a restrictive pattern spent more than 48 h in combat (p = 0.029) and twenty-two (61.1%) did not use any respiratory protection (p = 0.011). The study data showed that occupational exposure to wildfire smoke was associated with the development of a restrictive pattern and associated factors included a sedentary lifestyle, limited duration of physical exercise, longer exposure to fire smoke and non-use of respiratory protection.
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spelling pubmed-93238962022-07-27 Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke Ramos, Catarina Minghelli, Beatriz Int J Environ Res Public Health Article One of the world’s biggest disasters are wildfires. The firefighting environment involves physical and respiratory risks, due the inhalation of fire smoke. This study aims to determine the respiratory function of firefighters exposed to wildfire smoke and explore the potential risk factors associated with poor respiratory function. The sample involved 53 firefighters, aged between 23 and 60 years (39.28 ± 8.71), 41 (77.40%) male and 12 (22.60%) female, who fought in wildfires. The measurement instruments used were as follows: a scale, a stadiometer, a questionnaire, a Fagerstrom test and a spirometer. Thirty-six (67.9%) firefighters showed a restrictive pattern. Firefighters fought between 1 and 9 (3.64 ± 1.97) fires and in total between 5 and 212 (62.34 ± 46.89) h. Nineteen (52.8%) firefighters, who showed a restrictive pattern, did not perform any physical exercise (p = 0.045). Twelve (70.6%) firefighters who practiced exercise and revealed a restrictive pattern trained at least 3 or less hours weekly, whilst five (29.4%) practiced more than 3 h (p = 0.030) of weekly exercise. Twenty (55.6%) firefighters with a restrictive pattern spent more than 48 h in combat (p = 0.029) and twenty-two (61.1%) did not use any respiratory protection (p = 0.011). The study data showed that occupational exposure to wildfire smoke was associated with the development of a restrictive pattern and associated factors included a sedentary lifestyle, limited duration of physical exercise, longer exposure to fire smoke and non-use of respiratory protection. MDPI 2022-07-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9323896/ /pubmed/35886345 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148492 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ramos, Catarina
Minghelli, Beatriz
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke
title Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke
title_full Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke
title_fullStr Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke
title_short Prevalence and Factors Associated with Poor Respiratory Function among Firefighters Exposed to Wildfire Smoke
title_sort prevalence and factors associated with poor respiratory function among firefighters exposed to wildfire smoke
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9323896/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35886345
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148492
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