The development of novel tools for the assessment of UK firefighter nutritional status for use in a multi-component worksite nutrition intervention programme
type: CreativeWork
description: Firefighters are at elevated risk of cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction. Overweight and obesity prevalence in this occupational group may be greater than in the general population. This is the first nutrition-based study for UK firefighters, involving 28 fire stations and 575 firefighters based in London. This study was designed to develop population specific tools: body composition reference charts, a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a cookery book for use in a multicomponent worksite intervention. The validity of BMI for classification of firefighter adiposity status was investigated. Combined prevalence of male firefighter (n=497) overweight and obesity by BMI was 80%, which contrasted widely with the adiposity indices: percentage body fat (BF%) (63%), waist circumference (WC) (43%) and waist-to-height-ratio (WHtR) (59%). Female firefighters (n=78) exhibited lower combined prevalence of overweight and obesity compared to the male firefighters: BMI (43%), BF% (18%), WC (36%) and WHtR (27%). However, misclassification caused by BMI was widespread for both sexes, showing BMI’s specificity to be particularly poor, leading to high rates of false positives. This represents the first study to assess the adiposity of UK female firefighters and the first to comprehensively identify BMI to generate widespread misclassification of UK firefighters. Following this, a novel body composition reference system for UK firefighters was developed. This took the form of centile reference curves illustrating age-related changes in fat mass and skeletal muscle mass of firefighters, offering an improvement upon the limitations of BMI and BF%. Overweight and obesity cut-offs were defined at the 85th and 95th centiles which were chosen due to relative suitability and good agreement (97%; Kappa 0.86, p< 0.001) between the BF% reference curves and the fat-mass index reference curves at these centiles. A novel FFQ was developed via population specific modificati…
abstract: Firefighters are at elevated risk of cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction. Overweight and obesity prevalence in this occupational group may be greater than in the general population. This is the first nutrition-based study for UK firefighters, involving 28 fire stations and 575 firefighters based in London. This study was designed to develop population specific tools: body composition reference charts, a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a cookery book for use in a multicomponent worksite intervention. The validity of BMI for classification of firefighter adiposity status was investigated. Combined prevalence of male firefighter (n=497) overweight and obesity by BMI was 80%, which contrasted widely with the adiposity indices: percentage body fat (BF%) (63%), waist circumference (WC) (43%) and waist-to-height-ratio (WHtR) (59%). Female firefighters (n=78) exhibited lower combined prevalence of overweight and obesity compared to the male firefighters: BMI (43%), BF% (18%), WC (36%) and WHtR (27%). However, misclassification caused by BMI was widespread for both sexes, showing BMI’s specificity to be particularly poor, leading to high rates of false positives. This represents the first study to assess the adiposity of UK female firefighters and the first to comprehensively identify BMI to generate widespread misclassification of UK firefighters. Following this, a novel body composition reference system for UK firefighters was developed. This took the form of centile reference curves illustrating age-related changes in fat mass and skeletal muscle mass of firefighters, offering an improvement upon the limitations of BMI and BF%. Overweight and obesity cut-offs were defined at the 85th and 95th centiles which were chosen due to relative suitability and good agreement (97%; Kappa 0.86, p< 0.001) between the BF% reference curves and the fat-mass index reference curves at these centiles. A novel FFQ was developed via population specific modificati…
author: Lessons, Greg Richard
keywords: 570 Life sciences; biology, 610 Medicine & health
date published: 2021-04
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:54:33Z
provider: London Metropolitan University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: London Metropolitan University