Using salivary cortisol measures and self-evaluation to assess the stress of police work in urban police officers: results from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Burchfiel CM ; Charles LE ; Fekedulegn DB ; Hartley TA ; Miller DB ; Violanti JM
• Description:
  Police officers (PO) suffer greater morbidity and mortality from many diseases including cardiovascular disease (CVD). As police work is an occupation that includes exposures to both conventional and unconventional workplace stressors the increased susceptibility to CVD in POs may be linked to their exposure to the stressors associated with police work. Stressor exposures activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its repeated activation can result in dysfunction. Salivary cortisol (CORT) response evoked by a variety of conditions (e.g., awakening, time of day, etc.) and challenges (e.g., high protein meal, blood draw, etc.) was used to evaluate the status of the HPA axis in 317 male and female POs participating in the BCOPS study. The BCOPS study is a population-based study designed to integrate physiological, psychological, and subclinical measures of stress, mental dysfunction and disease to aid in understanding the health consequences of police work. Exposure to police work stressors over the past year was measured with the Spielberger Police Stress Survey (S-PSS), a self-report instrument that provides an index of exposure based on the product of the frequency of occurrence of each police stressor and its perceived intensity as evaluated by each PO. The S-PSS evaluates general administrative stressors; physical & psychological danger; and supervisor and co-worker support. Significant positive associations were found between the following: the area under the curve for CORT in samples collected across a single day and physical & psychological danger-related stressor exposure (p = 0.0124); bedtime CORT and general administrative stressors (p = 0.012) as well as bedtime CORT and physical & psychological danger-related stressors (p = 0.003). In summary, exposure to physical and psychological danger, related to police work, over the past year is associated with increased diurnal CORT secretion in a one day sample and also with elevated bedtime CORT. General administrative stressors were also associated with elevated bedtime CORT. Results suggest both conventional and unconventional police work stressors may result in HPA axis dysfunction. Future work will determine the possible associations between elevated CORT levels and preclinical indicators of CVD in the BCOPS population. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Law Enforcement Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Analytical-processes Cardiovascular-function-tests Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Emergency-responders Physiological-stress Police-officers Psychological-stress Stress
• Publisher:
  Society for Neuroscience
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040267
• Citation:
  2011 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2011 Nov; :188.01/SS28
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance ; Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  2011 Neuroscience Meeting Planner
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:26d46c563df549d16ab45a07267a4f6dac7d3b68fe7fc9a03c156474ae78686b7c4635a8768032b06917b488893fdf3a44e4c8cc32522d2f8a2aff1c42a33a1e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193206/cdc_193206_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 36.90 KB ]