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The association between heart rate variability, reaction time, and indicators of workplace fatigue in wildland firefighters

  • Original Article
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International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To understand the association between heart rate variability and indices of fatigue, total sleep time, and reaction time in shift workers.

Methods

Ten participants from the British Columbia Wildfire Service management team were examined over a 14-day active fire-line period. Daily measures of subjective fatigue, sleepiness, and alertness were recorded using a visual analog scale. Daily total sleep time was recorded using a wrist actigraph. Cardiac autonomic modulation was examined each morning using heart rate variability (HRV). Three measures of reaction time (simple reaction time, choice reaction tie, and discriminatory reaction time) was examined on days 1, 5, 10, and 14. Multiple linear regression analysis was utilized to examine the association between HRV and indices of fatigue, total sleep time, and reaction time.

Results

Mean shift duration was 13.8 ± 0.77 h. Significant inverse associations were observed between HRV and sleepiness [r = − 0.60, p = 0.000] and fatigue [r = − 0.55, p = 0.000], and a positive association with total sleep time (min) [r = 0.28, p = 0.009]. There were no significant relationships between HRV and simple reaction time (ms) [r = − 0.32, p = 0.182], choice reaction time (ms) [r = − 0.10, p = 0.850], or discriminatory reaction time (ms) [r = − 0.09, p = 0.881].

Conclusions

HRV displayed significant associations with indices of fatigue and sleep, whereby demonstrating its utility as a practical tool for monitoring the development of fatigue in wildland firefighters and for providing insight when to make lifestyle modifications to preserve alertness.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support, dedication, and contributions from each participant. The results of the current study do not constitute endorsement of the products utilized by the authors or the International Archives of Occupational of Environmental Health.

Funding

This research was supported by funding from the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (grant number NSERC RGPIN-2018-04613).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Physiology and Rehabilitation Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Lower Mall Research Station, Room 208, 2259 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Andrew T. Jeklin & Darren E. R. Warburton

  2. Faculty of Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Andrew T. Jeklin & Dion A. Paul

  3. Department of Kinesiology, Langara College, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Andrew S. Perrotta

  4. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Hugh W. Davies

  5. School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Shannon S. D. Bredin & Darren E. R. Warburton

Authors
  1. Andrew T. Jeklin
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  2. Andrew S. Perrotta
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  3. Hugh W. Davies
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  4. Shannon S. D. Bredin
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  5. Dion A. Paul
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  6. Darren E. R. Warburton
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Contributions

AJ and AP contributed to the conception and design of the research. AJ contributed to the acquisition of data. Analysis and interpretation of the data was done by AP. Drafting of the manuscript was done by AJ and DP and critically revised by AP, HD, SB, and DW.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darren E. R. Warburton.

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The authors declare they have not competing interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in the study.

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Jeklin, A.T., Perrotta, A.S., Davies, H.W. et al. The association between heart rate variability, reaction time, and indicators of workplace fatigue in wildland firefighters. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 94, 823–831 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01641-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01641-3

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