Thursday, July 02, 2009
Police work leads to higher risk of heart disease: study
Stress – not lifestyle factors – may lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke among police officers, according to a new study from researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Factors such as lack of exercise, smoking and diet were statistically controlled and ruled out as the reason for police officers' increased risk for the arterial thickening that precedes a heart attack or stroke, according to a UB press release.
"This led to the conclusion that it is not the 'usual' heart-disease-related risk factors that increase the risk in police officers," study author and UB associate professor John Violanti said in the release. "It is something else. We believe that 'something else' is the occupation of policing."
The study was published in the June issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.