Wd. Franke et al., CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE MORBIDITY IN AN IOWA LAW-ENFORCEMENT COHORT, COMPARED WITH THE GENERAL IOWA POPULATION, Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 40(5), 1998, pp. 441-444
It remains uncertain if law enforcement officers experience an elevate
d cardiovascular disease morbidity and, if so, whether their professio
n contributes to this incidence. Consequently, the self-reported incid
ence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (coronary heart disease, myocardi
al infarction, stroke, coronary artery, bypass graft surgery, angiopla
sty) and CVD risk factors (age, diabetes, elevated body mass inner (gr
eater than or equal to 27.8 kg.m(-2)), hypercholesterolemia, hypertens
ion, tobacco use) in. 232 male retirees, greater than or equal to 55 y
ears of age, from the Iowa Department of Public Safety were compared w
ith 817 male Iowans of similar age. CVD incidence was higher in the la
w enforcement officers than the general population (31.5% vs 18.4%, P
< 0.001). Using multiple logistic regression, factors found to be asso
ciated with CVD included the law enforcement profession (odds ratio [O
R] = 2.34/95 % confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.5-3.6), hypercholester
olemia (OR = 2.37; 95% CI = 1.7-3.3), diabetes (OR = 2.22; 95% CI = 1.
4-3.6), hypertension (OR 1.79; 95% CI = 1.3-2.5), tobacco use (OR = 1.
67; 95% CI = 1.07-2.6), and age (OR = 1.06; 95% CI = 1.03-1.08). These
results suggest that employment as a law enforcement officer is assoc
iated with an. increased cardiovascular disease morbidity and this rel
ationship persists after considering several conventional risk factors
.