PREVALENCE OF OBESITY RELATED TO STRESS IN POLICE WORKERS- A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Despite the prevalence of obesity and its increases in associated diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, no studies have addressed the spread of obesity among police officers working in stressful environment. Therefore, the present study conducted to access the prevalence of work related stress in police personnel.

 Aims and Objective: To access the prevalence of obesity and stress burden among police workers and to see association of stress burden of police workers with their obesity.

Material and Method: This cross-sectional observational study done on 245 police workers in PAC, Sitapur, India. Subjects having more than ten years of working experience were included in study. Anthropometric measurements of subject recorded by following standard protocol. Standardized stress scale was used to access the degree of stress in police workers. Available data analyze and expressed in percentage, mean with SD and chi square test to see the significance of association.

Results: According to result of body mass index 77.14% of subjects were obese and 9.8% of subject was overweight. According to waist circumference 82.04% of subjects were obese. Result of stress score showed that 31.84% of subjects having mild stress and 16.73% of subjects having moderate stress. 30.35% of subjects having abdominal obesity were suffered from mild stress and there association was highly significant (p=0.02).

Conclusion: The study recommends health education programs to combat obesity and overweight. Regular counseling should be conducted to alleviate work related stress.