Heart Disease: An Epidemic For Fi... ( Landmark FEMA Study Results Released ...)

Heart Disease: An Epidemic For Firefighters

Date:3/17/2009

Landmark FEMA Study Results Released

ATLANTA, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- H. Robert Superko, MD, principal investigator in the landmark FEMA-sponsored study of firefighters aged 40 and over conducted at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta, released preliminary findings in the world's first study of first responders at risk of suffering sudden death or other significant cardiac events. Firefighters are known to have a three hundred percent increased risk for cardiac disease as compared to other segments of the population.

"Preliminary findings show that one third of firefighters had heart disease that is unrelated to traditional risk factors, such as high cholesterol," says Dr. Superko. "Those results are astounding and point at job duties and environment as the primary determinants for early death in our country's first responders."

Dr. Superko, recognized as a leading expert on lipids, cholesterol and advanced metabolic markets and their contribution to heart disease, and his team performed a comprehensive, scientific battery of sophisticated blood and imaging tests on three hundred firefighters in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Gwinnett County first responders were identified for the study following an emotional report by Fire Chief Steve Rolader, following the sudden death of one of his firefighters from cardiac arrest while fighting a house fire.

"This wasn't the first firefighter in my department to die but I wanted to do something to make it among the last," says Chief Rolader. "This man was 53 years old, in great physical shape and he had no known symptoms of heart disease. We also had lost several newly-retired firefighters to sudden cardiac death. There had to be a way to stop it."

Study volunteers underwent a comprehensive genetic screen of more than a million genes including newly identified KIF6 (statin responsiveness gene) and 9p21 (myocardial
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Heart Disease: An Epidemic For Fi...( Landmark FEMA Study Results Released ...)