Effect on Markers of Cardiovascular, Reproductive and Cancer Risk From Firefighting Training

Summary

Epidemiological studies based on Danish registries have observed that Danish male firefighters have more cardiovascular disease, infertility diagnose and a trend to increased risk of cancer than other Danish employed males. Firefighting activities include a combination of stressors such as strenuous work under heat, smoke and soot known to be able to affect cardiovascular and reproductive health, with smoke and soot also being known to increase the risk of cancer.

The training facilities of real-fire extinguishing exercises in Denmark operate using wood or natural gas fire, which will have differential gradients of smoke, soot and possibly heat. The investigators will use different training conditions to create gradients of the different stressors and investigate health effects thereof. With this approach, the investigators expect to be able to evaluate the individual contribution of the different stressors in markers of cardiovascular, cancer and reproductive health risk. The project will include approx. 35 young conscript participants on a firefighting course, followed in four sessions, three firefighting training sessions under different fire conditions (no fire, wood fire and gas fire) and one control scenario.

Conditions

• Reactive Hyperemia
• Micro RNA
• Heart Rate Variability
• DNA Strand Breaks
• Oxidative Stress
• Heat Stress

Interventions

OTHER

Firefighting training exercises with no fire

The participants will be performing firefighting equivalent work in a clean environment, without fire (no ambient temperature, soot or smoke).

OTHER

Firefighting training exercises under wood fire

The participants will be in teams performing pre-defined tasks (knocking down the fire, moving heavy objects, and searching and rescuing metal stand in models), under wood fire conditions.

OTHER

Firefighting training exercises under gas fire

The participants will be in teams performing pre-defined tasks (knocking down the fire, moving heavy objects, and searching and rescuing metal stand in models), under gas fire conditions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Copenhagen

  collaborator OTHER

• University Hospital Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg

  collaborator OTHER

• Rigshospitalet, Denmark

  collaborator OTHER

• National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Maria Helena G Andersen, PhD · The National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NRCWE)

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-03-10

Primary Completion

2024-07-05

Completion

2024-07-05

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations