A Mediterranean Lifestyle Is Associated With Lower Hypertension Prevalence and Better Aerobic Capacity Among New England Firefighter Recruits.

Lan, Fan-Yun; Fernandez-Montero, Alejandro; Yiannakou, Ioanna; Marinos-Iatrides, Orestes; Ankeny, Jacob T; Kiser, Jeffrey; Christophi, Costas A; Christiani, David C et al. · J Occup Environ Med · 2020

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

Examine the association between healthy Mediterranean lifestyle practices and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among New England firefighter recruits. A MEDI-Lifestyle score was used to measure adherence to a Mediterranean lifestyle (not smoking, increased physical activity, high adherence to Mediterranean diet, non-obese body mass index, decreased screen time, adequate nightly sleep, and napping) among the recruits. MEDI-Lifestyle scores were cross-sectionally analyzed with blood pressure, aerobic capacity, and other CVD risk factors. Among 92 recruits, high adherence to MEDI-Lifestyle was significantly associated with a decreased risk of prevalent hypertension (odds ratio [OR] = 0.14 [0.03-0.71]) and a greater probability of high aerobic capacity (OR = 5.80 [1.05-32.05]) as compared with low adherence in age- and sex-adjusted analyses. Increased adherence to MEDI-Lifestyle is associated with a better CVD risk profile in firefighter recruits.

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