Background: Firefighting is a strenuous occupation, which necessitates that firefighters stay in good physical condition and maintain adequate cardiovascular and musculoskeletal fitness to perform their duties with minimal health and safety risks. The aim of this review is to determine the effects of cardiovascular disease risk factors, musculoskeletal health, and physical fitness on the occupational performance of firefighters. Methods: PubMed/Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, EBSCOHost, and ScienceDirect were searched without time-restriction. The appraisal tool for cross-sectional studies and the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme toolkit were used to conduct the methodological assessment. Data were analyzed using Review Manager 5.3, and MedCalc® statistical software. Results: Age had a moderate effect on occupational performance (Z = 5.15, p < 0.001), whereas gender had a large effect size on occupational performance (Z = 4.24, p < 0.001). A significant moderate negative correlation was found between cardiorespiratory fitness and occupational performance (R = −0.584, p < 0.001). Significant low negative correlations were found between upper body endurance (R = −0.344, p < 0.001), abdominal endurance (R = −0.308, p < 0.001), grip strength (R = −0.421, p < 0.001), upper body strength (R = −0.318, p < 0.001), and lower body strength (R = −0.216, p = 0.020) and occupational performance. Conclusions: Aged firefighters with poor body composition and lower levels of physical fitness performed worse on all occupational performance tasks.

Cricket is a game of immense physical prowess requiring high levels of fitness and skill. Purpose: The aim of this study focused on examining the relationship between shoulder concentric strength and throwing velocity amongst club cricketers. Method: The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional design. A convenient sample of 40 male university cricketers was tested. Shoulder concentric strength was measured at 60º•sec-1 and 90º•sec-1 using an isokinetic dynamometer. Throwing velocity was measured using a Speed Gun. Results: Significant correlations were found between peak torque during concentric internal rotation at 60º•sec-1 and maximal throwing velocity for the first team (r = 0.72; p = 0.01), second team (r = 0.67; p = 0.03), third team (r = 0.73; p = 0.01) and fourth team (r = 0.69; p = 0.02). The correlation between strength ratio at 60º•sec-1 and maximal throwing velocity was also significant for the first team (r = 0.76; p = 0.01), second team (r = 0.83; p = 0.002), third team (r = 0.70; p = 0.02) and fourth team (r = 0.94; p = 0.0001). Conclusion: The shoulder concentric internal rotators play a significant role in throwing velocity of club cricketers.

Background: Health risk behaviours can impair an individual's physical and/or mental health. University administrators experience a sedentary lifestyle such as smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating habits, and work-related stress. Objective: This study assessed the health risk behaviours of administrators at an institution of higher education in the Western Cape, South Africa. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted among 67 participants using an online questionnaire, focusing on demographics, work-related stress and environment, lifestyle-related behavior, and physical activity levels. SPSS, version 26 (2020), was used to compute the data. Results: The results of this study report significant mean value for administrative staff. Participants reported that they preferred physical activity as a coping mechanism. Administrators admitted to being stressed in their work situation for two weeks or more consecutively and to feeling overwhelmed by the workload. They reported working standard office hours from 08:30 to 16:30. On most days of the week, administrators reported they ate breakfast with at least one drink of alcohol and tried smoking. They spend hours playing video or computer games, sitting at a desk, and have poor sleep quality. Conclusion: Health risk behaviors such as smoking, excessive drinking, and having a sedentary lifestyle can harm job productivity.

14Background 15 Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and on-duty mortality among fire- 16 fighters. This study investigated the prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors 17 among firefighters in Cape Town, South Africa. 18 Methods 19 A quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive study design was used. A convenient sample 20 of 219 male fire-fighters with mean age 37.85±9.80 years was recruited. Eight major CAD 21 risk factors were measured. SPSS (ver. 23) was used with the Pearson correlation and 22 Kruskall-Wallis H test with the Mann Whitney test post hoc and a Bonferroni correction. 23 Results 2 24 The significance level set at p<0.05. Most fire-fighters (65.29%) were stratified as moderate 25 risk for CAD, with 21.00% as low risk, and 14.15% as high risk. A sedentary lifestyle was 26 the most prevalent CAD risk factor (51.14%), followed by obesity (45.90%). and cigarette 27 smoking (38.30%). Statistically significant correlations were found between waist 28 circumference and body mass index (BMI) (r=0.711; p<0.01), hip circumference and BMI 29 (r=0.673; p<0.01), waist circumference and waist-hip ratio (WHR) (r=0.665; p<0.01), and 30 BMI and body mass (r=0.512; p<0.01). 31 Conclusion 32 The majority of fire-fighters presented with multiple modifiable CAD risk factors. Fire 33 departments should focus on promoting education on CAD to reduce the risk of fire-fighters 34 developing heart disease. 35 36 42 of heart attacks [3], [4]. These cardiovascular events do not only happen at random, but 43 mostly occur during very physically demanding situations, such as fire suppression [4].44 Furthermore, the majority of fire-fighters who experienced these events possess one or more 45 of the following risk factors for CAD, namely, obesity, prediabetes, dyslipidemia, high blood 46 pressure (hypertension), cigarette smoking, and/or a sedentary lifestyle. The risk of heart 47 attacks among fire-fighters is dependent on many factors, including factors such as a low 3 48 level of physical activity, and chronic exposure to smoke. In addition, the high temperatures 49 present during fire suppression significantly increase physiological strain and the potential to 50 over exert the cardiovascular system [4]. 51 Many countries in Africa bear a heavy burden from cardiovascular disease, more especially 52 in sub-Saharan Africa [5]. In South Africa, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease has been 53 aggravated by an increased burden of cardiovascular risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, 54 hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and sedentary lifestyles [6]. The majority of individuals 55 affected are young and at their most productive age, and constitute the largest sector of the 56 workforce, fire-fighters included [6]. 57 Many of the fire-fighters, who died on-duty, did not have an up-to-date medical evaluation 58 [2]. Hypertension, prior occlusive disease, and cigarette smoking presented as significant risk 59 factors for on-duty-death [2]. Furthermore, some of the firefighters who were ...