The cortisol response in policemen: intraindividual variation, not concentration level, predicts truncal obesity

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Burchfiel CM ; Fekedulegn DB ; Miller DB ; Sharp DS ; Violanti JM ; Wactawski-Wende J
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: Chronic stress, characteristic of police work, affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis' control of cortisol production. Capacity to vary cortisol may be the appropriate measurement to interpret associations with chronic diseases, including obesity, best measured by variability within a person, not central tendency. METHODS: On each of 217 policemen, 18 saliva specimens were obtained for cortisol. Statistical models examined the associations of within-subjects (W-S) cortisol standard deviation (SD) and W-S cortisol mean with waist circumference and four body composition indexes: BMI, and three derived from DEXA: fat-mass, and trunk and extremities lean-mass. Explained variance and the functional nature of associations are reported. RESULTS: Associations of anthropometrics with W-S cortisol mean were not statistically significant at P < 0.05; all associations with W-S cortisol SD were significant. The association of trunk lean mass index (LMIt ) with W-S cortisol SD dominated all models. Associations of W-S cortisol SD with other indexes vanished when models contained LMIt; when any other index was included in models predicting LMIt, associations with W-S cortisol SD remained significant. The functional association between LMIt and W-S cortisol SD is progressively "hockey stick," monotonic increasing, and flattens at joint high values. CONCLUSIONS: Results support inferences that LMIt measures visceral adiposity and W-S cortisol variability appears to be an appropriate construct to measure in association with visceral adiposity. The "hockey stick" character of the association is consistent with other investigations suggesting obesity is associated with less W-S cortisol variation; however, the monotonic increase and flattening of association at increasing W-ScortisolSD values suggests a more complex association, potentially interpretable by allostasis models of causation. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Body Weight Law Enforcement Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Adipose Tissue BCOPS Body Weight Chronic Exposure Job Stress Law Enforcement Obesity Police Officers
• ISSN:
  1042-0533
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  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
• Pages in Document:
  499-507
• Volume:
  25
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042524
• Citation:
  Am J Hum Biol 2013 Jul/Aug; 25(4):499-507
• Contact Point Address:
  Dan S. Sharp, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Road, MS4020, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  DSharp@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20100901
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Human Biology
• End Date:
  20150831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d3a5a866da2fd6cadb206eeab0fa0d837bbd9ba2e6daed18e8568adc2d116dff59396c1cde15d24eba11657b270fd449fb47e3b58d873423830edf5fa3258837
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194718/cdc_194718_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 220.36 KB ]