VIDEO: A new study, led by LSU Health Shreveport cardiac electrophysiologist and professor Dr. Paari Dominic, finds that firefighters are at an increased risk for a dangerous heart condition.
Atrial fibrillation, or A-Fib, is an irregular heart rhythm in the top chambers of the heart. The condition causes the upper chambers to beat so fast they can no longer pump blood, putting the body at risk for clotting and stroke.
Uncontrolled blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, and heart disease are all risk factors that can cause it. So can environmental pollution. That’s where firefighters come in. The study, published in the Journal of the “American Heart Association,” found that the more fires firefighters respond to, the higher their risk for A-Fib. In fact, after adjusting for risk factors, researchers found a 14% increased risk of A-Fib for every five fires fought each year.