title: Obesity and risk of LVH and ECG abnormalities in US firefighters.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between obesity and electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a secondary analysis examining the association between body mass index and ECG abnormalities among Massachusetts' firefighters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 276 firefighters had undergone ECG testing at baseline (1996/97) and follow-up (2000). The incidence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was 15 per 1000 person-years of follow-up. After adjusting for age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, obese firefighters were about two times more likely to develop ECG-LVH (OR = 2.0; 95% CI, 0.6 to 6.6) and were 1.5 times more likely to develop ECG abnormalities (OR = 1.5; 95% CI, 0.6 to 3.9) at follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Obese firefighters appear to have a higher risk of LVH and ECG abnormalities than normal-weight individuals. Our findings need further evaluation and may have important implications for occupational health policies and periodic medical evaluations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology (EOME), Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. esoteria@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Elpidoforos S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Soteriades
authors.forename: Marcelo C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Targino
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Talias
authors.forename: Russ
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Christiani
authors.forename: Stefanos N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kales
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004562:Electrocardiography; D061388:Firefighters / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult