Abstract
Mapping body composition patterns of those hired as police officers has implications not only to the health of officers during their careers but also in their ability to perform in emergency situations. PURPOSE: To evaluate body composition changes that occur in police recruits from 1990 to 2013 with gender comparisons. METHODS: During the first week of police recruit training in a large southeastern metropolitan area, physical fitness levels were evaluated in 2,468 recruits. This study’s variables of interest are: body mass (kg), lean mass (kg), and % body fat. ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc procedures were used to evaluate data. RESULTS: The initial ANOVA shows significance for males in all three variables at p≤0.05. Males tended to increase in body mass and lean mass from 1990 to 2000 (80.6±1.2kg to 87.3±1.2kg, p≤0.05) (68.9±0.8kg to 73.4±0.8kg, p≤0.05), respectively. These values remained relatively constant between 2000 and 2013. No discernable pattern was seen in female lean mass nor body mass. Males tended to increase in % body fat from 1994 to 2010 (13.6±5.0 to 16.7±7.2, p≤0.05). Although not significant, female % body fat means increased from 1990 to 2013 (22. 9±1.0 to 26.2±1.2). CONCLUSIONS: Even though there was an increase in body mass, pre lean mass and % body fat over time in males, these increases were low. In addition, these increases were lower in females.
Published Version
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