Police Work Stressors and Cardiac Vagal Control

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Burchfiel CM ; Charles LE ; Fekedulegn D ; Gu JK ; Hartley TA ; Li S ; Miller DB ; Mnatsakanova A ; Violanti JM
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: This study examines relationships between the frequency and intensity of police work stressors and cardiac vagal control, estimated using the high frequency component of heart rate variability (HRV). METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of 360 officers from the Buffalo New York Police Department. Police stress was measured using the Spielberger police stress survey, which includes exposure indices created as the product of the self-evaluation of how stressful certain events were and the self-reported frequency with which they occurred. Vagal control was estimated using the high frequency component of resting HRV calculated in units of milliseconds squared and reported in natural log scale. Associations between police work stressors and vagal control were examined using linear regression for significance testing and analysis of covariance for descriptive purposes, stratified by gender, and adjusted for age and race/ethnicity. RESULTS: There were no significant associations between police work stressor exposure indices and vagal control among men. Among women, the inverse associations between the lack of support stressor exposure and vagal control were statistically significant in adjusted models for indices of exposure over the past year (lowest stressor quartile: M = 5.57, 95% CI 5.07 to 6.08, and highest stressor quartile: M = 5.02, 95% CI 4.54 to 5.51, test of association from continuous linear regression of vagal control on lack of support stressor B = -0.273, P =.04). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports an inverse association between lack of organizational support and vagal control among female but not male police officers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular System Law Enforcement Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  BCOPS Cardiac Function Heart Rate Job Stress Law Enforcement Workers Parasympathetic Nervous System Police Officers
• ISSN:
  1042-0533
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  29
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049583
• Citation:
  Am J Hum Biol 2017 Sep/Oct; 29(5):e22996
• Contact Point Address:
  Michael E. Andrew, Ph.D., Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  mandrew@CDC.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20150901
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Human Biology
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b91293880a21ff49d4a81e2e52a4e0fb79a8ff44667f4f141385e255c1fb4068fb809e1d0082a86ffa5a6e5115a436ba3ff9cd164cd70b31b65c9abcdd40aa15
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/210291/cdc_210291_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 637.03 KB ]