Usefulness of coronary and carotid imaging rather than traditional atherosclerotic risk factors to identify firefighters at increased risk for cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for 45% of deaths in on-duty firefighters, in contrast to 15% of all deaths occurring on conventional jobs. Therefore, with the goal of developing a tailored prevention program, we assessed CVD risk in a cohort of 50 firefighters using imaging and traditional risk factors. Participants were aged ≥40 years without a history of CVD or diabetes. CVD risk was assessed by way of history, physical examination, blood tests, risk scores, coronary artery calcium (CAC), and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). Median age was 46 years; 90% of subjects were men, 92% were white, and 30% were former smokers. Only 4% of subjects were hypertensive but 48% were prehypertensive. Only 14% of subjects had a normal body mass index; 38% were overweight, 48% were obese, and 46% had a high waist circumference. Based on fasting glucose ≥100 mg/dl or hemoglobin A_1c ≥5.6%, 50% of subjects had prediabetes and 2% had diabetes. Median total cholesterol was 196 mg/dl; median high-sensitivity C-reactive protein was 1.0 mg/L. CAC was detected in 22% of subjects and carotid plaque was detected in 36%. Using standard reference databases, 54% of subjects had cIMT greater than the seventy-fifth percentile; 66% had carotid plaque and/or cIMT greater than the seventy-fifth percentile. Atherogenic lipoprotein markers and risk scores did not differ between firefighters who had subclinical atherosclerosis and those who did not. Traditional CVD risk assessment does not adequately identify at-risk firefighters. In contrast, CAC and cIMT were useful for identifying increased risk and implementing primary prevention. In conclusion, early detection and integration of imaging with traditional risk assessment will be important in preventing premature death and disability among firefighters.