Blood pressure and heart rate responses in volunteer firefighters while wearing personal protective equipment

Hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and obesity are global health problems and are a large concern for firefighters. The leading cause of death among firefighters is cardiac-related; hence, it is important to understand how firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE) affects cardiovascular responses to different activities. Volunteer firefighters represent 70% of all firefighters and are an understudied population. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report blood pressure (BP) responses in volunteer firefighters.

Thirty-six male, nonsmoking volunteer firefighters (27.8±9.7 years) underwent two maximal treadmill tests within 2 weeks, one in regular gym clothes and one in PPE. We found that while wearing PPE, which weighs 54.2±3.5 lbs, BP responses are exaggerated during work and in recovery. Systolic BP and heart rate were significantly (P<0.05) higher at each submaximal stage and during active recovery of the PPE test compared with the regular clothing test (15-23 mmHg and 20-34 bpm higher, respectively). Test time and VO2 max were lower in the PPE test (P<0.05).

BP responses are exaggerated while wearing full fire protective gear and remain elevated during recovery. Awareness of how firefighting activities affect BP is important; so future studies should examine how the BP increase relates to resting BP levels, to PPE weight, and to the thermal effects of the PPE.