Assessment of urinary protein composition in response to consecutive days of wildland firefighting

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the pattern of urinary protein excretion induced by 3 consecutive days of wildland firefighting. Eighteen male active-duty military personnel served as the participants. All testing on the 3 consecutive days was conducted at a Northwestern USA fire camp. All participants consumed military-based foods containing 2620–2864 kcal/day. The work activity was evaluated with an accelerometer in association with body weight and hydration markers over the experimental period. Urinary samples were collected pre and post workshift on days 1 and 3 to assess glomerular and tubular protein excretion (total protein, albumin, β₂-microglobulin, N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase and creatinine). The urinary levels of glomerular and tubular protein were not significantly different. The main findings of the present study indicate that similar alterations of urinary protein composition can be observed over consecutive days of wildland firefighting, which appears to be dependent on intensity rather than total work output.

Keywords:

• energy balance
• heat exposure
• hydration
• labor work
• renal function
• wildland firefighting

Acknowledgements

The authors express special thanks to Dr Scott Montain, Dr Dustin Slivka, Dr Joseph Domitrovich, Mr John Cuddy and Mrs Stephanie Domitrovich for their technical assistance in the present study. Portions of the data in this article were presented at the 55th American College of Sports Medicine National Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, USA, 2008.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Nobuo Yasuda http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6655-0772

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported partly by a grant to B.C.R. from the United States Air Force Research Laboratory [grant number: FA8650-06-1-679].