ArticlePloS one2025
Cardiorespiratory demands of firearms training instruction and 15m shuttle tests in British law enforcement.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesLaw enforcement agencies require minimum fitness standards to safeguard their officers and training staff. Firearms instructors (FI) are expected to maintain the same standards as their operational counterparts. This study aimed to quantify the daily physiological demands placed on FI.
methods19 FI (45 ± 5 years) completed occupational tasks whilst wearing heart rate (HR) monitors for a minimum 10 days. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) testing was conducted on FI during a treadmill test (TT) and a multistage shuttle test (ST). Linear regression models were used to model the relationship between VO2 and HR throughout the TT. This model was applied to HR data from occupational tasks to infer oxygen consumption. Repeated Measures ANOVAs were used to compare time spent in VO2max equivalent zones throughout.
resultsThe VO2max achieved during ST (45.1 ± 5.6 ml/kg/min) was significantly higher than TT (39 ± 3 ml/kg/min) (p = 0.014). Time to exhaustion (TTE) was sooner on ST (06:26 min) compared to TT (13:16 min) (p < .001). FI spent ~85% of occupational time with an oxygen demand ≤20 ml/kg/min (p < .005). The most intense occupational tasks saw FI achieve VO2max ≥30 ml/kg/min, but <40 ml/kg/min.
conclusionUsing ST to assess cardiorespiratory fitness resulted in a quicker TTE and a higher VO2max. Predominantly, FI occupational tasks are low intensity with sporadic exposures requiring a VO2max of >40 ml/kg/min. To safeguard FI from occupational-related cardiorespiratory or long-term health issues, it is intuitive to suggest fitness standards should exceed a VO2max of 40 ml/kg/min.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.