Depressive symptoms and carotid artery intima-media thickness in police officers

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Int Arch Occup Environ Health
• Personal Author:
  Violanti, John M. ; Charles, Luenda E. ; Gu, Ja K. ; Burchfiel, Cecil M. ; Andrew, Michael E. ; Joseph, P. Nedra ; Dorn, Joan M.
• Description:
  Purpose
  
  Police work is a stressful occupation. Depressive symptoms, which may occur as a result of exposure to stressors in police work, have been known to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between depressive symptoms and carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) among police officers.
  
  Methods
  
  CIMT was measured with B-mode carotid ultrasonography. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Analyses of variance and covariance were utilized to examine the mean values of common CIMT (CCA IMT) and maximum CIMT (MMXIMT) across quintiles of depressive symptoms.
  
  Results
  
  Participants included 412 officers (mean age = 41 years). Hypertension status significantly modified the association between CES-D score and CIMT. The association between CES-D score and CCA IMT was statistically significant (adjusted P = 0.030) but only among officers without hypertension. The associations between CES-D score and MMXIMT were not significant among officers with or without hypertension. Our results also showed that among officers who reported poor sleep quality, mean levels of CCA IMT, and MMXIMT tended to increase as depressive symptoms increased.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Depressive symptoms may be therefore be independently associated with CIMT, yet masked by hypertension. Even though sleep quality did not significantly modify the main association, our results also suggest that poor sleep quality may act synergistically with depressive symptoms to increase CIMT. Future prospective work would help to clarify these associations.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Aged Cardiovascular Diseases Carotid Artery, Common Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Cross-Sectional Studies Female Humans Hypertension Law Enforcement Male Middle Aged Occupational Diseases Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Sleep Stress, Psychological Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2012; 86(8):931-942.
• Pubmed ID:
  23184119
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4486211
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  R03 OH003772/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  New York
• Volume:
  86
• Issue:
  8
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:27f12224d2397ef78ba0b0b5f03d0bb7ffd1ee4248deace287513b64e098ff12
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/33804/cdc_33804_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 414.20 KB ]