Protecting and serving can be stressful work. A new study, however, suggests that this stress could have a marked impact on officers’ health; stressful duties were found to lead to around a 30-70 times higher risk of sudden cardiac death.

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Potentially stressful situations assessed in the study included altercations, chasing suspects and rescue operations.

“Although we suspected that strenuous police duties could trigger sudden cardiac deaths in vulnerable officers, we were struck by the magnitudes of the risks and their consistency across different statistical models,” says senior author Dr. Stefanos Kales.

Serving as a police officer was judged to be the ninth most stressful job in America this year, according to job search website CareerCast. In 2011-2012, the fatality rate among patrol officers was 3-5 times the national average for private sector employees, at 15-16 people per 100,000 full-time workers.

Although statistics pertaining to these deaths are not well documented, an estimated 7% of these fatalities are attributable to cardiac disease events.

Previous research from Dr. Kales and his colleagues has shown that among firefighters – the third most stressful job in the US, according to CareerCast – the risk of sudden cardiac death is elevated during stressful aspects of work, in comparison with nonemergency duties.

Other studies have also indicated that strenuous activities such as vigorous exercise can lead to heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths, particularly among members of the population who are physically inactive.

Dr. Kales and his colleagues assessed 441 cases of sudden cardiac death among police officers, occurring between 1984 and 2010. Using data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the Officer Down Memorial Page, the team were able to identify the duty associated with the death in 431 of the cases.

The researchers then combined the information they had regarding sudden cardiac death among police officers with estimations of how much time officers spend fulfilling different duties. These estimations were made based on data from surveys of front-line officers and police chiefs.

Increases to the risk of sudden cardiac death were found during the following various duties, when compared with routine or nonemergency duties:

  • Altercations or restraining suspects: 34-69 times higher
  • Pursuits: 32-51 times higher
  • Physical training: 20-23 times higher
  • Medical or rescue operations: 6-9 times higher.

In addition, the researchers found that sudden cardiac deaths comprise up to 10% of all on-duty police deaths in the US. This figure is deemed by the study authors to be “the most accurate estimate to date of the proportionate mortality from sudden cardiac death in this population.”

Further stability and sensitivity analyses were conducted to ensure that the findings were robust.

The findings of the study, published in BMJ, suggest that increased attention needs to be paid to the cardiovascular health of serving police officers.

“Our findings have important public health implications for health promotion among law enforcement officers and call for the implementation of primary and secondary cardiovascular disease prevention efforts such as lifestyle and medical interventions to reduce officer’s risk of sudden cardiac death,” says Dr. Kales.

The researchers found that medical and rescue operations were associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death. The law enforcement community does not typically consider these activities as strenuous, write the authors, and so the findings could have implications for related workers’ benefits and compensation claims.

Acknowledgements are made that the findings are limited by their use of data which are indicative of associations rather than quantitative, but the authors also state that the consistency of their findings merits further study. Obtaining information first-hand from officers and utilizing data from medical records and autopsies could be one way of more accurately quantifying the association, they write.

Measures suggested by the team include interventions to increase physical activity, promoting smoking cessation and the maintenance of a healthy weight, and the treatment of risk-increasing conditions such as hypertension and dyslipidemia.

Last month, Medical News Today reported on a study claiming the effects of mental stress on the heart may differ between men and women.