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Cops may be at a higher risk for certain health conditions

Category: Hormones and Metabolism

A team of scientists from the University at Buffalo completed a study that investigated the links between police work and several chronic conditions. The findings support a greater need for blood testing of conditions such as diabetes, Hodgkin's lymphoma and other health problems among cops.

It is well known that police work is a stressful job. To understand the impact of this occupation on health, the researchers monitored the health of nearly 500 cops.

The scientists discovered that more than 25 percent of subjects had metabolic syndrome, which is a constellation of symptoms that includes diabetes and a higher risk of heart disease. By comparison, only about 19 percent of the general population has metabolic syndrome.

Furthermore, police officers who spent 30 years on the force have an elevated risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma and brain cancer.

"Usually, health disparities are defined by socioeconomic and ethnic factors, but here you have a health disparity caused by an occupation, highlighting the need to expand the definition of health disparity to include occupation as well," said researcher John Violanti, Ph.D.

These results suggest that people in this segment of the workforce would benefit from routine blood testing.