Effects of a healthy lifestyle intervention and COVID-19-adjusted training curriculum on firefighter recruits
Open accessAbstract
There are knowledge gaps regarding healthy lifestyle (HLS) interventions in fire academy settings and also concerning the impacts of the pandemic on training. We enrolled fire recruits from two fire academies (A and B) in New England in early 2019 as the historical control group, and recruits from academies in New England (B) and Florida (C), respectively, during the pandemic as the intervention group. The three academies have similar training environments and curricula. The exposures of interest were a combination of (1) an HLS intervention and (2) impacts of the pandemic on training curricula and environs (i.e. social distancing, masking, reduced class size, etc.). We examined the health/fitness changes throughout training. The follow-up rate was 78%, leaving 92 recruits in the historical control group and 55 in the intervention group. The results show an HLS intervention improved the effects of fire academy training on recruits healthy behaviors (MEDI-lifestyle score, 0.5 ± 1.4 vs. - 0.3 ± 1.7), systolic blood pressure (- 7.2 ± 10.0 vs. 2.9 ± 12.9 mmHg), and mental health (Beck Depression score, - 0.45 ± 1.14 vs. - 0.01 ± 1.05) (all P < 0.05). The associations remained significant after multivariable adjustments. Moreover, a 1-point MEDI-lifestyle increment during academy training is associated with about 2% decrement in blood pressures over time, after multivariable adjustments (P < 0.05). Nonetheless, the impacts of pandemic restrictions on academy procedures compromised physical fitness training, namely in percent body fat, push-ups, and pull-ups.
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Other intervention-based studies exist but are not specific to full-time firefighters but rather recruit firefighters or first responders.
“Other intervention-based studies do exist; however, they are not specific to full-time firefighters but rather recruit firefighters (individuals employed by fire departments prior to becoming a full-time firefighter) or first responders (police, firefighters, EMS) [124,125,126].”
From The Cyclical Battle of Insomnia and Mental Health Impairment in Firefighters: A Narrative Review (2024) · cites this paper as [126]
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- Authors
- Lan, F.-Y., Scheibler, C., Hershey, M. S., Romero-Cabrera, J. L., Gaviola, G. C., Yiannakou, I., Fernandez-Montero, A., Christophi, C. A., Christiani, D. C., Sotos-Prieto, M., & Kales, S. N.
- Affiliations
- Cambridge Health Alliance (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Boston University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kales, Stefanos N.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2022-06-23
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 10607-10607
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9226180
- OpenAlex
- W4283332650
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4
- FWCI
- 4.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Biblos-e Archivo (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) (publishedVersion)
- RISalud Institutional Health Repository of Andalucía (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Hispana (submittedVersion)
- Ktisis at Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, John F. Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Performance
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Lifestyle Studies
- Keywords
- healthy lifestyle intervention, firefighter recruits, COVID-19 pandemic impact, training curriculum, physical fitness, blood pressure, mental health, depression, health behavior, social distancing, fat mass, push-ups, pull-ups
- MeSH terms
- Healthy Lifestyle, COVID-19, Curriculum, Exercise Test, Humans, Physical Fitness, Firefighters
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