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Differences in Cardiovascular Health Metrics in Emergency Medical Technicians Compared to Paramedics: A Cross-Sectional Study of Emergency Medical Services Professionals
- Rebecca E. Cash, Remle P. Crowe, Julie K. Bower, Randi E. Foraker, Ashish R. Panchal
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- Journal:
- Prehospital and Disaster Medicine / Volume 34 / Issue 3 / June 2019
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 29 April 2019, pp. 288-296
- Print publication:
- June 2019
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Background:
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals face high physical demands in high-stress settings; however, the prevalence of cardiovascular health (CVH) risk factors in this health care workforce has not been explored. The primary objective of this study was to compare the distribution of CVH and its individual components between a sample of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics. The secondary objective was to identify associations between demographic and employment characteristics with ideal CVH in EMS professionals.
Methods:A cross-sectional survey based on the American Heart Association’s (AHA; Dallas, Texas USA) Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) was administered to nationally-certified EMTs and paramedics. The LS7 components were scored according to previously described cut points (ideal = 2; intermediate = 1; poor = 0). A composite CVH score (0-10) was calculated from the component scores, excluding cholesterol and blood glucose due to missing data. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR; 95% CI) for demographic and employment characteristics associated with optimal CVH (≥7 points).
Results:There were 24,708 respondents that were currently practicing and included. More EMTs achieved optimal CVH (n = 4,889; 48.8%) compared to paramedics (n = 4,338; 40.6%). Factors associated with higher odds of optimal CVH included: higher education level (eg, college graduate or more: OR = 2.26; 95% CI, 1.97-2.59); higher personal income (OR = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.17-1.37); and working in an urban versus rural area (OR = 1.31; 95% CI, 1.23-1.40). Paramedic certification level (OR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.78-0.91), older age (eg, 50 years or older: OR = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.58-0.73), male sex (OR = 0.54; 95% CI, 0.50-0.56), working for a non-fire-based agency (eg, private service: OR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.62-0.74), and providing medical transport service (OR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.69-0.94) were associated with lower odds of optimal CVH.
Conclusions:Several EMS-related characteristics were associated with lower odds of optimal CVH. Future studies should focus on better understanding the CVH and metabolic risk profiles for EMS professionals and their association with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), major cardiac events, and occupational mortality.
Cash RE, Crowe RP, Bower JK, Foraker RE, Panchal AR. Differences in cardiovascular health metrics in emergency medical technicians compared to paramedics: a crosssectional study of Emergency Medical Services professionals. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2019;34(3):288–296.
Contributors
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- By Basem Abdelmalak, Joseph Abdelmalak, Alaa A. Abd-Elsayed, David L. Adams, Eric E. Adelman, Maged Argalious, Endrit Bala, Gene H. Barnett, Sheron Beltran, Andrew Bielaczyc, William Bingaman, James M. Blum, Alina Bodas, Vera Borzova, Richard Bowers, Adam Brown, Chad M. Brummett, Alexandra S. Bullough, James F. Burke, Juan P. Cata, Neeraj Chaudhary, Michael J. Claybon, Miguel Cruz, Milind Deogaonkar, Vikram Dhawan, Thomas Didier, D. John Doyle, Zeyd Ebrahim, Hesham Elsharkawy, Wael Ali Sakr Esa, Ehab Farag, Ryen D. Fons, Joseph J. Gemmete, Matt Giles, Phil Gillen, Goodarz Golmirzaie, Marcos Gomes, Lisa Grilly, Maged Guirguis, David W. Healy, Heather Hervey-Jumper, Shawn L. Hervey-Jumper, Paul E. Hilliard, Samuel A. Irefin, George K. Istaphanous, Teresa L. Jacobs, Ellen Janke, Greta Jo, James W. Jones, Rami Karroum, Allen Keebler, Stephen J. Kimatian, Colleen G. Koch, Robert Scott Kriss, Andrea Kurz, Jia Lin, Michael D. Maile, Negmeldeen F. Mamoun, Mariel Manlapaz, Edward Manno, Donn Marciniak, Piyush Mathur, Nicholas F. Marko, Matthew Martin, George A. Mashour, Marco Maurtua, Scott T. McCardle, Julie McClelland, Uma Menon, Paul S. Moor, Laurel E. Moore, Ruairi Moulding, Dileep R. Nair, Todd Nelson, Julie Niezgoda, Edward Noguera, Jerome O’Hara, Aditya S. Pandey, Mauricio Perilla, Paul Picton, Marc J. Popovich, J. Javier Provencio, Venkatakrishna Rajajee, Mohit Rastogi, Stacy Ritzman, Lauryn R. Rochlen, Leif Saager, Vivek Sabharwal, Oren Sagher, Kenneth Saliba, Milad Sharifpour, Lesli E. Skolarus, Paul Smythe, Wolf H. Stapelfeldt, William R. Stetler, Peter Stiles, Vijay Tarnal, Khoi D. Than, B. Gregory Thompson, Alparslan Turan, Christopher R. Turner, Justin Upp, Sumeet Vadera, Jennifer Vance, Anthony C. Wang, Robert J. Weil, Marnie B. Welch, Karen K. Wilkins, Erin S. Williams, George N. Youssef, Asma Zakaria, Sherif S. Zaky, Andrew Zura
- Edited by George A. Mashour, Ehab Farag
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- Book:
- Case Studies in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care
- Published online:
- 03 May 2011
- Print publication:
- 03 February 2011, pp x-xvi
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