Abstract
ABSTRACT Introduction: Higher levels of physical fitness are associated with better quality of life and indicators of health and performance in police forces. Objective: This study aims to describe and evaluate the level of cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular fitness of a national sample of federal highway patrol officers. Methods: Cross-sectional study with data from 6212 agents of the Federal Highway Police. Endpoints were as follows: abdominal resistance (AR); upper limb muscular resistance (ULMR); upper limb muscle strength (ULMS) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CF). The following independent variables were included: sex; age; geographic region of posting and participation in the Institutional Physical Education Program (IPEP). The linear regression model was used to test the association between endpoints and independent variables. Results: The highest proportion of police officers obtained an excellent score for neuromuscular endpoints (AR: 63.9% men, 69.6% women, ULMR: 68.8% men, 61.8% women, ULMS: 22.2% men, 40% women). In CF, the highest percentage of scores was average and good (respectively, 30.6% and 43.0% for men, 39.1% and 39.2% for women). Male officers were fitter than female officers, except for the ULMS endpoint. There was a decrease in fitness levels for all endpoints according to age. Police officers from the northern region were fitter than in the other regions. Police officers who were not registered in the IPEP were fitter than those registered. Conclusion: Federal Highway Patrol officers have good levels of fitness, which declines with age. Level of Evidence III; Study of nonconsecutive patients; without consistently applied "gold" reference standard.
Highlights
Higher levels of physical fitness are associated with better quality of life and indicators of health and performance in police forces
An observational study was conducted based on retrospective data from the Public Notice 11/2016 of the Federal Highway Police Department (FHPD), which deals with the Physical Fitness Test (PFT) of 2016
It is noteworthy that the participants presented a cardiorespiratory fitness that varied from fair to good according to reference population values; upper limb muscular resistance (ULMR) and strength were excellent, males were superior to females regarding ratings of physical fitness, and a decline in physical fitness with age was observed
Summary
Higher levels of physical fitness are associated with better quality of life and indicators of health and performance in police forces. Objective: This study aims to describe and evaluate the level of cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular fitness of a national sample of federal highway patrol officers. Results: The highest proportion of police officers obtained an excellent score for neuromuscular endpoints (AR: 63.9% men, 69.6% women, ULMR: 68.8% men, 61.8% women, ULMS: 22.2% men, 40% women). Conclusion: Federal Highway Patrol officers have good levels of fitness, which declines with age. As in the general population, higher levels of physical fitness are associated with a better quality of life and health indicators in public security forces, such as policemen, firemen, and military personnel[5,6,7]. Evidence shows the importance of regular monitoring of physical fitness in these occupations, since maintaining acceptable levels of physical fitness is an essential condition for performance of these professions[10,11,12,13]
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