Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of firefighters and office workers in the Women Firefighters Biomonitoring Collaborative (2014–2015)
| Variables: mean ± SD or N(%) | Firefighters N=86 | Office workers N=84 | P-valuea |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 47.5 (±4.6) | 48.3 (±10.5) | 0.38 |
| Years working for SFFD or SF City & County | 17.4 (±4.2) | 14.2 (±10.1) | 0.0005 |
| U.S. Born | 77 (89.5%) | 62 (73.8%) | 0.01 |
| Race/ethnicity | |||
| NH White | 40 (46.5%) | 37 (44.0%) | 0.29 |
| Latina/Hispanic | 19 (22.1%) | 13 (15.5%) | |
| NH Asian | 11 (12.8%) | 19 (22.6%) | |
| NH Black | 9 (10.5%) | 5 (6.0%) | |
| NH Other | 7 (8.1%) | 10 (11.9%) | |
| Last grade completed | |||
| Some college or less | 48 (55.8%) | 15 (17.9%) | < 0.0001 |
| Bachelors or higher | 38 (44.2%) | 69 (82.1%) | |
| Marital status | |||
| Married | 37 (43.0%) | 47 (56.0%) | 0.039 |
| Widowed | 1 (1.2%) | 2 (2.4%) | |
| Separated/Divorced | 26 (30.2%) | 11 (13.1%) | |
| Never married | 22 (25.6%) | 24 (28.6%) | |
| Reported yes, ever been pregnant | 60 (70.6%) | 52 (61.9%) | 0.26 |
| Body mass indexb | |||
| Healthy weight | 33 (40.7%) | 43 (52.4%) | 0.13 |
| Overweight | 35 (43.2%) | 23 (28.0%) | |
| Obese | 13 (16.0%) | 16 (19.5%) |
NH = Non-Hispanic
a
To account for non-normally distributed variables we used Wilcoxon Rank Sum test to compare continuous variables by firefighter status and the Fisher Test for categorical variables.
b
CDC guidelines for BMI classification (lb/in2): Healthy weight 18.5–24.9; Overweight 25.0–29.9, Obese >30