Obese U.S. Firefighters Receive No Weight Advice from Health Care Providers

A new research has found that obese and overweight firefighters do not receive weight management advice from their health providers.

The National guidelines emphasize that health care professionals (HCP) should advise patients on the importance of maintaining healthy weight. Among firefighters, the rate of obesity and cardiovascular events are a leading cause of line-of-duty deaths. This study assessed the association existing between the age and body mass index with HCP weight recommendations among male fighters.

According to a study by the National Volunteer Fire Council, the rate of overweight and obese individuals in fire service is much higher than those found in the general public. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that more than 70 percent of the U.S. firefighters are overweight or obese.

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, based their finding on the analysis of data self-reported by HCP weight recommendations. They measured the BMI from a 2011-2012 national sample of male firefighters.  The recommendations provided by the HCP were classified as no advice, maintain, gain or lose weight and BMI was categorized as normal, overweight, class I obese and class II or III obese. To estimate the odds of receiving weight advice by age and BMI categories, the researchers used multinational logistic regression.

Nearly 96 percent of the firefighters reported visiting HCP in the past year. Nearly 69 percent of the firefighters and 48 percent of class I to III obese firefighters reported receiving no weight advice. Higher BMI predicted HCP advice to lose weight. It was the younger fighters who were less likely to receive weight loss advice when compared to the older firefighters, except those of class II or III obesity.

The finding was documented in the Center for Disease Control's journal Preventing Chronic Disease.