waltky
Wise ol' monkey
Bein' a cop can make ya sick...
Study: Stress Can Leave Police Officers More Vulnerable to Disease
February 7, 2017 - A study of more than 300 Buffalo police officers suggests that the high-stress environment can leave the officers more vulnerable to disease.
Study: Stress Can Leave Police Officers More Vulnerable to Disease
February 7, 2017 - A study of more than 300 Buffalo police officers suggests that the high-stress environment can leave the officers more vulnerable to disease.
For most people, cortisol, the vital hormone that controls stress, increases when they wake up. It’s the body’s way of preparing us for the day. But in police officers who’ve experienced intense stress on the job, cortisol functions much differently, according to recent research from the University at Buffalo and funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
John Violanti, PhD -- who served with the New York State Police for 23 years and is now a research professor of epidemiology and environmental health at the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions -- says a study of more than 300 members of the Buffalo Police Department suggests that the high-stress working environment can leave officers vulnerable to disease.
A study of more than 300 members of the Buffalo Police Department suggests that police events or conditions considered highly stressful by the officers may be associated with disturbances of the normal awakening cortisol pattern. That can leave the officers vulnerable to disease, particularly cardiovascular disease, which already affects a large number of officers. “We wanted to look at what stressors most affect police officers in their work and what affect that has in the dysregulation of this awakening cortisol pattern,” said John Violanti, PhD, research professor of epidemiology and environmental health in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.“Past studies haven’t really looked at the intensity of the stressor and how it affected this cortisol pattern. Here we looked at actual intensity,” adds Violanti, lead author on the paper, published in the January issue of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. The study included 338 Buffalo officers who were enrolled in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study, a long-term study Violanti began in 1999.
What stresses officers the most?
For this study, participating officers assessed a variety of on-the-job stressors using a questionnaire that asks officers to rate 60 police-related events with a “stress rating.” Events perceived as very stressful are assigned a higher rating. Exposure to battered or dead children ranked as the most stressful event, followed by: killing someone in the line of duty; having a fellow officer killed on duty; a situation requiring the use of force; and being physically attacked.
Identifying the five most intense stressors police can face was significant, Violanti said. “When we talk about interventions to help prevent disease, it’s tricky because these stressors are things that can’t be prevented,” he said. “That’s why the availability of peer support programs within police departments is important. ”The survey showed that the officers experienced one of the five major stressors, on average, 2.4 times during the month before the survey was completed.
Stressed officers see blunted cortisol pattern