TY - JOUR
T1 - Obesity and risk of LVH and ECG abnormalities in US firefighters
AU - Soteriades, Elpidoforos S.
AU - Targino, Marcelo C.
AU - Talias, Michael A.
AU - Hauser, Russ
AU - Kawachi, Ichiro
AU - Christiani, David C.
AU - Kales, Stefanos N.
N1 - Funding Information:
SNK has consulted with Novartis Pharmaceuticals and received research funding from Respironics. The other authors declare that they have no financial and/or other relationship that may lead to a conflict of interest.
PY - 2011/8
Y1 - 2011/8
N2 - Objective: To evaluate the association between obesity and electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis examining the association between body mass index and ECG abnormalities among Massachusetts' firefighters. Results: Overall, 276 firefighters had undergone ECG testing at baseline (1996/97) and follow-up (2000). The incidence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was 15 per 1000 person-years of follow-up. After adjusting for age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, obese firefighters were about two times more likely to develop ECG-LVH (OR = 2.0; 95% CI, 0.6 to 6.6) and were 1.5 times more likely to develop ECG abnormalities (OR = 1.5; 95% CI, 0.6 to 3.9) at follow-up. Conclusions: Obese firefighters appear to have a higher risk of LVH and ECG abnormalities than normal-weight individuals. Our findings need further evaluation and may have important implications for occupational health policies and periodic medical evaluations.
AB - Objective: To evaluate the association between obesity and electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis examining the association between body mass index and ECG abnormalities among Massachusetts' firefighters. Results: Overall, 276 firefighters had undergone ECG testing at baseline (1996/97) and follow-up (2000). The incidence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was 15 per 1000 person-years of follow-up. After adjusting for age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, obese firefighters were about two times more likely to develop ECG-LVH (OR = 2.0; 95% CI, 0.6 to 6.6) and were 1.5 times more likely to develop ECG abnormalities (OR = 1.5; 95% CI, 0.6 to 3.9) at follow-up. Conclusions: Obese firefighters appear to have a higher risk of LVH and ECG abnormalities than normal-weight individuals. Our findings need further evaluation and may have important implications for occupational health policies and periodic medical evaluations.
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U2 - 10.1097/JOM.0b013e318221c6fe
DO - 10.1097/JOM.0b013e318221c6fe
M3 - Article
C2 - 21775903
AN - SCOPUS:80051801776
SN - 1076-2752
VL - 53
SP - 867
EP - 871
JO - Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
JF - Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
IS - 8
ER -
