IJERPH, Vol. 21, Pages 274: Association of Endogenous Testosterone with Physical Fitness Measures during Firefighter Occupational Health Evaluations

IJERPH, Vol. 21, Pages 274: Association of Endogenous Testosterone with Physical Fitness Measures during Firefighter Occupational Health Evaluations International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph21030274 Authors: Luiz Guilherme Grossi Porto Edgard M. K. V. K. Soares Sushant M. Ranadive Adriana Lofrano-Porto Denise L. Smith Firefighting is a physically demanding profession associated with unacceptably high on-duty cardiovascular mortality. Low endogenous total testosterone (TT) is an emerging cardiometabolic (CM) risk factor in men, but limited data exists on its interactions with physical fitness (PF). Data from occupational health and fitness assessments of 301 male career firefighters (FFs) were analyzed. TT was categorized as low (<264 ng/dL), borderline (264–399 ng/dL), and reference (400–916 ng/dL). PF tests included cardiorespiratory fitness (submaximal treadmill), body fat percentage (BF%), push-ups, plank, and handgrip strength assessments. In the crude analyses, FFs in the low TT group had worse muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness measures compared to the referent group. However, after adjusting for age and BF%, none of the PF differences remained statistically significant. Similarly, the odds of less-fit FFs (PF performance below median values) having low TT were higher compared to the fitter ones only before adjusting for age and BF%. Therefore, in the final adjusted mo...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research