Police work and subclinical atherosclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
Employment as an urban police officer was hypothesized to be associated with increased structural subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD), measured by carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT).


METHODS
The sample of men and women consisted of police officers (n = 312) and the general population (n = 318), free of clinical CVD.


RESULTS
Officers had elevated levels of age-adjusted CVD risk factors (blood pressure, total cholesterol, smoking prevalence) compared with the population sample. In age-, gender-, and traditional risk factor-adjusted models, police officers exhibited increased mean common carotid IMT (police = 0.67 mm, population = 0.64 mm; P = 0.03) and mean maximum carotid IMT (police = 0.99 mm, population = 0.95 mm; P = 0.13).


CONCLUSIONS
Police officers have increased levels of atherosclerosis compared with a general population sample, which was not fully explained by elevated CVD risk factors; thereby potentially implicating other mechanisms whereby law enforcement work may increase CVD risk.
Joseph
P Nedra
PN
Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch, HealthEffects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention, 1095 Willowdale Road M/S 4050, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA. PNJoseph@cdc.gov
Violanti
John M
JM
Donahue
Richard
R
Andrew
Michael E
ME
Trevisan
Maurizio
M
Burchfiel
Cecil M
CM
Dorn
Joan
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D016495:Police; D012307:Risk Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography