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.
Highlights
Obesity is caused by an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure.[1, 2, 3] It has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.[1,2,3] There is scarcity of knowledge regarding prevalence of overweight or obesity in police worker in India
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)
In an Indian study conducted on urban police of Puducherry4. most police officers (68%) ranged in age from 25 to 39 years and having abdominal obesity was associated with a higher prevalence of hypertension
Summary
Obesity is caused by an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure.[1, 2, 3] It has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.[1,2,3] There is scarcity of knowledge regarding prevalence of overweight or obesity in police worker in India. Irregular eating habits, sleepless nights, shift duties and disturbed personal life produces stress in the police officer’s life and they become vulnerable to obesity and other metabolic disorders.[7] Increased demands of work impinging upon home life, lack of consultation and communication with the higher authorities in the organization, lack of control over workload and inadequate support have been identified as the potential factors responsible for the stress in the policemen.[8, 9] With this background we performed this study to estimate prevalence of stress and obesity among police personnel and to identify association between obesity and other factors with perceived stress
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Medical and Biomedical Studies
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
