Assessing Firefighter Perceptions of Exercise on Disease and Illness Risk
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Updated: Nov 4, 2026
Conducting Maximal and Submaximal Endurance Exercise Testing to Measure Physiological and Biological Responses to Acute Exercise in Humans
Published on: October 17, 2018
Nicholas A Buoncristiani1,2,3,4, Gena R Gerstner2,3, Amber N Schmitz2,3,4
1Department of Kinesiology University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, United States.
Objective:
This study aimed to quantify firefighter awareness of a lack of exercise on disease risk and examine demographic and health-related factors.
Methods:
Firefighters (n=252) completed body composition testing and a survey assessing demographics, physical activity (PA), and perception of a lack of exercise on disease risk.
Results:
The majority (86.9%) identified ≥1 disease category that individuals were at a higher risk of developing due to a lack of exercise but were less likely (≤8.3%) to identify current high-priority fire service health concerns. Greater PA and having a college degree were associated with higher odds of reporting more disease categories.
Conclusions:
Most firefighters perceived a lack of exercise with increased disease risk, however, future efforts should improve awareness of exercise benefits for high-priority firefighter concerns (e.g. cancer, mental health), accounting for PA and education levels.
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