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December 9, 2012

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Charity funds research into fire-fighter health

A research study into the leading cause of ‘death on duty’ among fire-fighters has been made possible thanks to funding from a leading health charity.

The British Heart Foundation has provided £187,000 to fund the study into cardiac arrest among fire-fighters, which will be carried out by scientists from Edinburgh University.

Monitoring 50 fire-fighters over a two-year period the researchers will be seeking to establish why fire-fighters have the highest risk of heart attack of all the emergency services, in spite of regular health and fitness checks.

They will, among other things, take measurements of study subjects’ heart and blood vessels before they tackle a blaze at an Edinburgh training facility.

Dr Nick Mills, the consultant cardiologist leading the research, said: “The risk of having a heart attack while you’re in service as a fire-fighter is highest during fire-suppression activity, compared to any other emergency activity.

“A cigarette-smoker might have a two-fold risk of having a heart attack, but there’s a 30-fold increased risk of having a heart attack during fire-suppression activity.”

Initial findings of researchers have suggested that simple measures such as drinking water more frequently could reduce the level of risk.

Group safety commander at the Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, David Mackie, said: “There is obviously a huge amount of variables in this, so there hasn’t been a huge amount of research in this country.

“It’s really important that we bottom this out and get the facts about it and try and do as much as we can to prevent any ill health among our staff.”

The British Heart Foundation said its financial assistance was possible thanks to the donations of its supporters, “without whom we simply couldn’t fund our life-saving research”.
 

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