HOW HEALTHY ARE THE POLICE - A SURVEY OF LIFE-STYLE FACTORS

Aims. To examine the prevalence of five life-style behaviours among Ne w South Wales police. Design. A cross-sectional survey using a self-ad ministered questionnaire. Setting and participants. A total of 852 pol ice were recruited from metropolitan Sydney. Measurements. Prevalence related to age and sex of self-reported alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, inadequate exercise, perception of overweight and stress sym ptoms. Results. A high level (89%) of participation was achieved in th e survey. Almost half (48%) of males and more than two-fifths (40%) of females consumed alcohol excessively including continuous hazardous o r harmful consumption and binge drinking. Excessive drinking was more prevalent among younger police. There were 8% of male and 15% of femal e police who reported that they did not drink alcohol. Over one-quarte r (27%) of male and one-third (32%) of female respondents reported smo king. Almost half (46%) of men and women (47%) believed that they were overweight. More than one-fifth (21%) of men and less than one-quarte r (24%) of women reported that they did not exercise. Finally, 22% of men and 15% of women reported feeling moderate to severe symptoms of s tress. Conclusions. The police work-force offers an opportunity to scr een for a large number of healthy, young and high risk individuals (pa rticularly men) who are hard to reach in other settings and who rarely visit their general practitioner A sizeable majority (83%) of NSW pol ice had at least one unhealthy life-style behaviour with 19% reporting 3-5 unhealthy factors. The high prevalence of excessive alcohol consu mption among police is of particular concern. More active health promo tion and provision of brief interventions among police may reduce morb idity and mortality associated with unhealthy life-styles.