Physical Activity, Fitness and Body Composition of Finnish Police Officers: A 15-year Follow-up Study

Abstract

This study evaluated changes in the physical activity, fitness and body composition of 103 police officers during a 15-year follow-up. The absolute aerobic capacity was similar in 1981 and 1996, muscular performance had declined, and body weight had increased approximately 0.5 kg/year. More than half the subjects (53%) had increased their leisure-time physical activity in 1996. The correlation was significant between physical activity in 1981 and physical fitness in 1996, but weak between physical activity in 1996 and fitness in 1996. It was also significant between waist circumference and waist/hip ratio in 1996 and physical activity during the previous 5 and 15 years. No significant correlations were found between physical activity and work ability or perceived physical or mental job stress. The physical fitness of middle-aged police officers seems to be predicted strongly by physical activity in early adulthood. Therefore health and fitness promotion measures should start at that time. This, together with regular systematic training, should help to sustain work ability of middle-aged police officers.

Aspetos relacionados à qualidade de vida e atividade física de policiais militares de Santa Catarina - Brasil

“…Entre os danos psíquicos, pode-se apontar a dependência alcoólica, os abusos no uso de medicamentos, a depressão e os transtornos de diversos tipos, tais como a desordem de stress pós-traumático ou síndrome de exaustão emocional ou burn--out, entre outros (Loo, 2004). Já entre os danos físicos, podem ser citadas as doenças cardiovasculares e as doenças metabólicas, entre outras (Sorensen, Smolander, Louhevaara, Korhonen, & Oja, 2000 …”

Anthropometric indicators of obesity in policemen: A systematic review of observational studies

“…Methodological quality of each study included in this review was also evaluated in an autonomous manner by 2 reviewers using an instrument developed by the authors and sometimes in conflict with maintenance of physical fitness [1,7,9,10]. Over the last decade, numerous studies on the changes in body composition of policemen caused by their occupation have been performed.…”

“…With regard to the methods of obesity detection in the target population, direct measurements (body mass, fat mass, lean mass, abdominal girth, and waist circumference) as well as indirect measurements (body mass index, waist-height ratio, waist to hip ratio, and fat percentage) were used. The main demographic characteristics of the studies are shown in Table 1; 6 studies were performed in North America [6,7,[15][16][17]20], 2 in Europe [1,4], and 1 in South America [18]. Among the cohort studies, Boyce et al [4] studied both men and women, whereas Sorensen et al [1] included only men.…”

“…Obesity is an increasingly prevalent disease worldwide and can be regarded as a health problem among individuals of different occupations, including policemen, who are responsible for public security [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Furthermore, excess body fat is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular, metabolic and psychological diseases, and affects occupational performance.…”

Morphological model of female members of the Communal Police of Belgrade

“…Policijski posao pripada kategoriji zanimanja kod kojih se višegodišnje dejstvo većeg broja faktora rizika može kumulativno i negativno odraziti na opšte zdravstveno i stanje profesionalno-radne sposobnosti (Bonneau & Brown, 1995;Sorensen et al 2000). Prvi stepen datog kumulativnog i negativnog uticaja radne sredine se može dijagnostikovati upravo pomoću morfološkog prostora, gde intenzitet i smer promena voluminoznosti tela, kao i telesnog statusa direktno ukazuje na dati uticaj (Janković i sar.…”