NEJM -- Firefighting and Death from Cardiovascular Causes

Thanks for Paula Hillis for this link as well

NEJM -- Firefighting and Death from Cardiovascular Causes: "Firefighting and Death from Cardiovascular Causes
Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H., and Jorn Olsen, M.D., Ph.D.

Among the approximately 1.1 million firefighters in the United States (of whom about 70% are volunteers and 30% are paid career personnel), about 100 die each year in the line of duty.1 With the exception of 2001, when 344 firefighters died as a result of the events of September 11 at the World Trade Center in New York City, the number of deaths per year has stayed relatively steady, even though the number of structural fires in the United States has been steadily decreasing. Nearly half of the deaths that occur while firefighters are on duty are related to cardiovascular events, and, in this issue of the Journal, Kales et al.2 describe an innovative approach to improving our understanding of this risk.