Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize key health indicators in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel and identify areas for intervention in order to ensure a strong and capable emergency health workforce.
Methods: Participants were EMS personnel delivering patients to 4 regional tertiary care emergency departments within North Carolina (NC). After transferring patient care and agreeing to participate, height, weight, and blood pressure (BP) measurements were recorded and each participant completed a questionnaire regarding demographics, activity levels, alcohol consumption, smoking, and medical history. Data were analyzed descriptively.
Results: A sample of 452 EMS personnel from across NC was enrolled. The cohort was predominantly male (74.1%) and employed full-time (85.5%). The prevalence of overweight and obesity (80.3%) among EMS personnel was higher than the NC population (65.6%) and the general United States (US) population (70.8%). A previous diagnosis of high BP was reported by only 18.3% of participants, but 65.1% had elevated BP at the time of measurement. Alcohol consumption in the past 30 days among participants (55.4%) was slightly higher than state estimates (48.0%) and similar to national estimates (57.1%). However, heavy drinking (22.2%) and binge drinking (28.8%) were reported at much higher rates than state (5.6% and 15.2%, respectively) and national (6.6% and 18.3%, respectively) estimates. The prevalence of current smoking (21.5%) and quit attempts (48.8%) in the cohort was similar to state (21.8% and 55.0%, respectively) and national (21.2% and 55.7%, respectively) estimates. Likewise, the proportion of EMS providers meeting the Center for Disease Control's activity guidelines (49.6%) was similar to that found in the NC (46.8%) and the general US (48.0%) populations.
Conclusions: These findings suggest a high prevalence of overweight and obesity, heavy drinking, binge drinking, and high BP among NC EMS personnel. Similar to fire service personnel, these rates are higher than the general US population. As such, they suggest areas where intervention would have the greatest positive impact on the health and performance of the EMS workforce.
Keywords: emergency medical services; health status indicators; overweight; public health; smoking.