Glucose Levels as a Biomarker for Stress in Firefighters

Stress is known to cause physical structures in the brain to dysregulate, resulting in health problems like cancer, cardiac disease, metabolic disorders (obesity), and depression. Firefighters experience many of these diseases at higher rates than other occupations while also experiencing highly unique stress loads. When the body's nervous system responds to stress, blood glucose levels increase. This study will equip firefighters with continuous glucometers to observe glucose levels during emergency response and other stressful events. The immediate goal of this study is to determine whether the physiological stress response of on-shift firefighters can be quantified with glucose monitoring. The long-term goal is to identify occupational firefighter stress as a health risk exposure.

NCT Number	NCT06899373
Lead Sponsor	University of Utah
Conditions	Stress, Sympathetic Nervous System, Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal
Enrollment	17 participants
Start Date	2024-12-17
Primary Completion	2025-04-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2025-04-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-03-28