High prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among policemen in Puducherry, South India

Abstract

a b s t r a c tBackground: Diabetes mellitus and hypertension (HT) are common diseases in adulthood, pre-disposing to many cardiovascular complications, posing a major public health challenge. Few studies have reported increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors and type 2 diabetes in policemen. Hence, this study aims to assess the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, HT, smoking, alcohol intake, and obesity among policemen. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2008e2009 among 256 policemen in Puducherry, South India. Policemen were selected by simple random sampling. Socio-demographic details and some of the risk factors such as alcohol intake and smoking history were obtained using a pretested, structured questionnaire. Presence of stress was measured using the professional life stress score questionnaire. Blood pressure, waist circumference, and hip circumference were measured by standard methods. Fasting blood sugar was estimated using a glucometer. Serum cholesterol was also measured. Lipid profile was measured for a randomly chosen subgroup of 50 participants. Results: Mean age of study participants was 40.9 years (SD AE 10.9). Out of the study subjects, 23% (n ¼ 60) were known diabetic and 16.8% (n ¼ 43) were known hypertensive. Prevalence of diabetes among study participants was 33.6% (CI: 27.8%e39.6%). Prevalence of HT among study participants was 30.5% (CI: 24.9%e36.5%). Seventy percent (n ¼ 178) had at least moderate range of stress in their life related to their profession and 4% (n ¼ 11) had stress as a "problem" in their life. Conclusions: Burden of cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes and HT was high among police personnel of Puducherry.

Occupational Stress among Police Personnel of Gadchiroli City, India

“…Our results support earlier research of police officers suffering from stress due to their occupation. 9 Similar occupational stress prevalence and stressors were found in study conducted in Wardha 10 and Puduchery 11 . Some studies also reported that Police personnel are under continuous and constant stress due to similar stressors that lead to psychiatric morbidity.…”

Law enforcement and cardiovascular risk: Findings of a cross-sectional study from Rural Karnataka

“…18 However the studies conducted by Tharkar et al 19 from Chennai and Ramakrishnan et al 20 from Puducherry reported a higher prevalence of diabetes among police personnel, 32% and33.6% respectively compared to the present study (8.3%).…”

“…In the present study, the prevalence of hypertension was 8.3% as compared to 30.5%and 58.5% in the studies conducted by Ramakrishnan et al 20 and Shabana et al 19 respectively. The higher prevalence may be due to the difference in age distribution; our study comparatively had younger police personnel than the other studies.…”

“…The prevalence of risk BMI in this study was consistent (73.3%) as compared to Puducherry study (75.8%). 20 the prevalence was higher than Chennai study (62.9%) 19 and Kerala study(66%). 2 Most of the police personnel (63.3%) had a waist circumference > 85 cm as compared to 71.5% and 65.1% (Waist Circumference > 90 cm) reported by Ramakrishnan et al 20 and Shabana et al 19 respectively.…”

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hypertension Among Male Police Personnel in Urban Puducherry, India

“…6 Hypertension is defined as a systolic BP of 140 mmHg or above or diastolic BP of 90 mmHg or above, in a minimum of 2 readings at least 5 minutes apart. The subjects were classified as Normal, Pre-hypertensive or Hypertensive according to JNC VII criteria.…”