Pain, health perception and sleep: impact on the quality of life of firefighters/rescue professionals1

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the quality of life of firefighters and rescue professionals, and characterize their socio-demographic, health, work and lifestyle profile. METHODS Cross-sectional study that used a socio-demographic, lifestyle, health, work data questionnaire and the WHOQOL-BREF quality of life aspects, in Fire Department bases, Civil Air Patrol Group of the Military Police and Rescue Group of Emergency Services. RESULTS Ninety professionals participated in this study - 71 firefighters, 9 nurses, 7 doctors and 3 flight crew members. The average age of the group was 36.4 ± 7.8 years; they worked about 63.7 hours per week; 20.2% reported pain in the last week and 72.7% had body mass index above 25 kg/m2. The average of the WHOQOL-BREF domains was: physical (74.6), psychological (75.2), social (76.5) and environmental (58.7). Significant association was found (Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlation) between the WHOQOL-BREF domains and pain in the past six months, in the last week, health perception, job satisfaction, hours of sleep, domestic tasks and study. CONCLUSION The main factors related to quality of life were presence of pain, health perception, sleep and domestic activity.