KCUMB Receives Approximately $1 Million to Investigate Heart Disease in Fire Service Personnel

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (July 21, 2008) - Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences will receive approximately $1 million over two years to investigate cardiovascular disease among fire service personnel.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is funding the grant, which provides for the development of a fire-service health surveillance tool to improve firefighter health and wellness.

"The leading cause of death among firefighters is cardiovascular events," said principal investigator Sara Pyle, assistant professor of preventive medicine and family medicine. "More firefighters are dying from heart attacks than any other cause. With a health surveillance tool, we may discover and monitor problems before they rise to epidemic proportions in this population."

The research team will develop the health surveillance tool by investigating and evaluating cardiovascular and health behavior risk factors, department environment and characteristics of line-of-duty activities. Once the tool is finalized through a pilot study, additional studies will be conducted with randomly selected fire departments to evaluate health behavior risk factors for cardiovascular markers.

Researchers from KCUMB and the University of Missouri-Kansas City will join Dr. Pyle as co-investigators. From KCUMB, co-investigators include Richard R. Suminski, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology; Alan G. Glaros, Ph.D., associate dean for basic medical sciences; and V. James Guillory, D.O., associate professor and chair of preventive medicine and vice president for research.

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences is a fully accredited, private university, with Colleges of Biosciences and Osteopathic Medicine. Founded in 1916, its College of Osteopathic Medicine is the oldest medical school in Kansas City, Mo., and the largest in the state.