The prevalence of diseases in German emergency medical services staff: A survey study

For the general German population, the GEDA study is the main health monitoring study. Since nothing comparable is existing regarding the health of emergency medical services (EMS) staff, the aim of the present study was to estimate the 12-months prevalence of socially relevant diseases and symptoms among German pre-hospital EMS staff. This was a nationwide survey study. For retrieval of information on the health status of participating EMS staff items from the GEDA2014/2015 study were used. Afterwards, 12-months prevalence or proportions and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated. Overall, 2,313 German pre-hospital EMS staff (42.6% female/57.2% male) with a median age of 25.0 (min. 18.0; max. 63.0) years were included into the final analysis. Obesity based on BMI was present in 25.9% (95% CI: 23.5%; 28.4%) of male compared to 15.7% (95% CI: 13.5%; 18.1%) of female study participants. Highest 12-months prevalence in the full study sample were calculated for lower back pain (41.1% [95%: 39.1%; 43.2%]), cervical pain (32.9% [95% CI: 30.9%; 34.8%]), allergies (32.6% [95% CI: 30.7%; 34.6%], depression (13.7% [95% CI: 12.4%; 15.2%]), and hypertension (11.5% [95% CI: 10.3%; 12.9%]). The 12-months prevalence in specific age-/gender-groups were higher for asthma, depression, hypertension, increased blood lipids, and osteoarthritis among study participants compared to the general German population (GEDA study) with the same age and gender (ratio ≥ 1.5). This study indicates that the prevalence of obesity, depression, hypertension, and other disorders is high among study participants and disease prevention measures for pre-hospital EMS staff are needed.