Somatometric parameters in firefighters of the Federal Fire Fighting Service of the EMERCOM of Russia

Abstract

Relevance. Professional firefighters are subjected to high levels of chronic stress due to extreme professional activities. Chronic stress is a psychogenic factor, conducive of obesity, the latter being a predictor of cardiovascular and other diseases. To identify those at a higher risk, the body fat percentage was estimated in the Russian EMERCOM Federal Fire Fighting Service firefighters.The objective is to estimate the body fat percentage in firefighters of the Russian EMERCOM using anthropometric and circumference calculations with further comparative analysis.Methods. Body mass index (BMI) based anthropometric and circumference calculations, including waist circumference, waist/hip ratio, and body type, allowed assess the body fat percentage (BFP) in 98 EMERCOM firefighters working in three fire and rescue units in St. Petersburg. In addition, a retrospective study was performed to analyze 1497 medical examination records of the EMERCOM firefighters involved in fire extinguishing operations in 2019-2023. BFP was relied on circumference calculation used in the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. Navy, and the Young Men’s Christian Organization. The somatometric parameters were analyzed using Statistica 13.3 software and statistical methods – dispersion, correlation, stepwise regression, and conjugation table, with the significance level p < 0.05.Results and analysis. The study found that BMI only as a tool to assess the body fat percentage in firefighters is insufficient and does not allow to obtain a reliable result. The reason is that BMI is a highly reliable indicator of excessive body fat only in obese population, whereas in normal-weight or overweight subjects the BMI data is often misleading. In this respect, BFPbased circumference calculation appears to be the most reliable tool to assess body fat content. The study also includes an extensive comparative analysis of the obtained results, suggesting a diagnostic strategy to identify obesity-prone firefighters among the Russian EMERCOM firefighter corps at regular medical examinations. In addition, the suggested new BMI formulas involve simpler arithmetic calculations.Conclusion. The study results, show that excessive body weight is hardly a rare event among professional firefighters of the EMERCOM of Russia. Further studies regarding its correlation with chronic non-infectious diseases are required to develop new healthcare solutions and obesity prevention programs.