original article a cross sectional study on assessment of

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OriginalArticle

ACrossSectionalStudyonAssessmentofHealthProfileofPolicemenServingat

AhmedabadCity,Gujarat1 2SahilRSolanki ,RujulPShukla

1 2Resident, AssistantProfessor,DepartmentofCommunityMedicine,GCSMedicalCollege,Ahmedabad,Gujarat,India

Correspondence:Dr.SahilRSolanki,Email:[email protected]

Accessthisarticleonline

Website:

www.healthlinejournal.org

DOI:

10.51957/Healthline_240_2021

Abstract:

Introduction:Policemenareoneoftheimportantcadresforpositivepaceofdevelopmentofanynation.

Theycanworkoptimallyif,theyarephysicallyandmentallyfit.Objective:Toassesssocio-demographicand

health profile, determinants of ill health and their correlates with work profile of male policemen at

Ahmedabadcity.Method:StudywascarriedoutatPoliceheadquarters,Ahmedabadwherepolicemenfrom

alloverdistrict reported forwork.Calculatedsamplesizewas416.Listofallpolicemenwasobtained,

participantswereselectedthroughsimplerandomsampling,andpersonal interviewwascarriedoutat

PoliceHeadquartersofthecity. Results:Themeanageofstudyparticipantswas42.50±9.32years.In

contexttoBMI,total75.3%policemenwereeitheroverweightorobese.Policemenwithtobaccoaddiction

were186(45%).Oftotal,11.29%and7.69%werehypertensiveanddiabeticsrespectively.Aroundthree-

fourth(74%)policemencomplainedofperceivedstress.Conclusion:Twothirdsofthetotalparticipants

wereoverweightorobese.Factorslikeimproperdietaryhabits,presenceofdisease,disturbedsleepand

tobaccoaddictionsamongPolicemenhadasignificantassociationwiththeirworkprofile.Majoritywere

underperceivedstressanditsconsequences.

Keywords:Addiction,Healthprofile,Obesity,Policemen,Sleep,Stress

QuickResponseCode Howtocitethisarticle:

Solanki S, Shukla R, A Cross Sectional Study on

AssessmentofHealthProfileofPolicemenServingAt

Ahmedabad City, Gujarat. Healthline. 2021;12(3):

52-59.

Introduction:

It is increasingly recognized that a healthy

workforce is a prerequisite for the success of

economic and social policy. It is also a necessary

condition for the achievement of sustainable

development.Oneparticularprofessionwhichtakes

careof thevery social fabric thatholdsournation[1]

togetherinpeaceisthepoliceforce.

Themainjobofpolicemenistomaintainlawand[2]peace in society. Health is a way of functioning

within one's environment. It is largely affected by

workconditionssoworkplaceenvironmentplaysan[3]importantroleinman'stotalenvironment.

Policeworkhasbeenrecognizedasadangerous

occupation.Theyperformspecializedworkinvolving

exposure to violence,which can affect theirhealth[4]

directly or indirectly. They work under high-risk

anduncontrolledenvironments,engageinextended

driving, and often need to make on-the-spot[5]

decisionsincomplexandambiguoussituations.

Goodsleepqualityandadequatesleepduration

(i.e.,7to8hoursina24-hourperiod)arenecessary[6]forgoodhealth. ThePolicemenworkroutinelyfor

12 hours or more per day, sometimes which may

extendtononstopworkforacoupleofdaysatthe[7]policestation. Policemenareoneoftheseveralrisk

HealthlineJournalVolume12Issue3(July-September2021)

groups for Non-Communicable Diseases(NCDs) as

theyhaveirregulardiet,sufferfromdisturbedsleep[8]patternandhavehabitsofTobaccoconsumption.

They face strong job demands besides being

constantlyunderpoliticalandmediascrutiny,many

ofthosedemandscannotbemetadequately.There

are many professional and legal strictures that

circumscribethepolicingresponse,whichcanleadto

frustration and this overload with job demands[9]causesstrainandstressinindividualpoliceofficers.

Thehealthofthepolicementhusbecomesvery

importantasitcouldalsoaffectthewellbeingofthe[1]community he is serving. Due to paucity of

literatureonpolicemenofAhmedabadCity,present

studywas plannedwith objective to assess health

profileofmalepoliceofficerservingatAhmedabad

city.

Objectives:

1) Toassesstheoverallhealthprofileofmalepolice

officersservingatAhmedabadCity.

2) To assess various determinants of ill health

factorsamongmalepoliceofficersandcorrelate

them statistically with their work and

demographicprofile.

Method:

A Cross Sectional study to assess the health

profileofpolicemenwasplannedatAhmedabadCity,

Gujarat. Permission of Institutional Ethics

Committee and The Assistant Commissioner of

AhmedabadPolicewasobtainedbeforeinitiatingthe

study. From the appellate authority of police for

Ahmedabadregion,thepermissionwasreceivedto

carryout theresearchamongPoliceSub Inspector

(PSI)andsubordinateofficialranksi.e.,AssistantSub

Inspector(ASI),HeadConstable(HC)andConstable.

Accordingly, the study was carried out amongst

officersatPoliceHeadquarters,Ahmedabadwhere

around3000policeofficersofabovementionedrank

reported daily who are serving at different police

stations.Alistofallmalepoliceofficersreportingat

AhmedabadPoliceHeadquarterswasobtained.

Basedonfindingsofsimilarstudycarriedoutat[7]

MumbaibyAlmaleB.D.etal. ,pwastakenas48%,

qas100-pwhichis52%,allowableerrorEas10%of2 2

pwhichis4.8,applyingtheformula:[(1.96) pq/E ][10]for sample size calculation, the final calculated

samplesizecameto416.

From the list of all male police officers, the

required numbers of participants were selected

using simple random sampling method. Police

officerswhohadserved for less than3yearswere

excluded from the study. In case a selected police

official could not be contacted onday of visit, one

moreattemptwasmadetoincludeparticipantinthe

study. After two consecutive efforts, the next

immediate police official in the master list was

selected.

The study duration was 3 months from

September 2019 to November 2019. Data were

collected by administering a self-designed pre-

structured questionnaire. The questionnaire

includedsociodemographicprofile,personalhistory

includingaddictionhistory,perceivedstressrelated

questions, history of preexisting disease and its

treatmentanddetailsofdutyhours.Measurements

in examination included height, weight, waist

circumference, hip circumference and blood

pressure.Pilottestingofthequestionnairewasdone

amongst 10% of sample size i.e., 42 participants

beforeinitiationofstudy.

Data entrywas done inMSExcel andAnalysis

was done using IBM Statistical Package for Social

SciencesforWindowsversion20.0Armonk,NY-IBM

Corp. Data analysis included measurements of

central tendency, measurements of dispersion,

frequencyandchi-square.

Results:

The mean age of study participants was

42.50±9.32 years, mean height and weight being

170.63±0.5cmand74.23±10.5kgrespectively.Out

of total policemen,331(79.6%) had more than 10

yearsofworkexperiencewhile85(20.4%)hadwork

experienceof3to10years.

Solankietal CrossSectionalStudyonHealthProfileofPolicemen...

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Table1:Socio-DemographicProfileofstudyparticipants(n=416)

Amongthepolicemenwhowereinterviewedfor

thestudy,247(59.4%)wereConstables,87(20.9%)

were Head Constables,65(15.6%) being ASI and

17(4.1%)werePSIs.

Field Duty was performed by 343(82.5%)

participants, 54(13%) had desk-work while

19(4.6%)policemenhadbothfieldandofficeduties

tobeaccomplishedduringtheirpostings.Frequency

of change of shift was monthly for 395(94.9%)

policemenanddailyfor21(5.1%).

Mean Waist and Hip circumferences of

participantmale policemenwere 94.41 ± 9.63 cm

and 93.75± 8.51 cm respectively. According to the[12]

commonly accepted standards almost half (206;

49.5%) of the participants had NormalWaist Hip

Ratio, while other 210(50.5%) participants had

IncreasedWaistHipRatio.

MeanBodyMassIndex(BMI)ofparticipantswas2

25 . 5 2±3 . 6 7 k g /m . A s p e r A s i a n BM I [13]

Classification. ,80(20%)participantswerefound

tobeoverweightand230(55.3%)werefoundtobe

underobesecategory.MeanSystolicbloodpressure

was128.36±7.01mmHgwhilemeanDiastolicblood

pressurewas80.62±3.66mmHg.

Almosthalf,219(52.6%)participantswereona

Vegetariandiet,177(42.5%)wereNon-vegetarians

and 20(4.9%) were Eggetarians. Among the total

studysubjects,224(53.8%)hadthehabitofeating


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fast food during duty hours amongst which

143(63.8%)consumedfastfoodatleastonceaweek.

Majority participants 373(89.7%) had 9 to 16

workhoursperday.Asshowninfigure1,disturbed

sleepwas found in 325 (78.2%) policemen out of

which249(76.6%)had1to10daysofnightdutyper

monthand76(23.4%)hadbetween11to20daysof

nightdutypermonth.

Mostofthepolicemen410(98.6%)reportedof

having extra duty hours among which, extra duty

hours ranging from 8 to 12 hours per weekwere

reported by 371 (90.4%) participants. Both

Figure1:Prevalenceofdisturbedsleepandroleofnightshiftdutyonsameamongstudyparticipants(n=416)

day/night shifts were performed by 379(91.1%)

policemenwhile37(8.9%)hadonlyday-timeshiftin

thepresentroutine.

Details about co morbidities suffered by

participantsandtreatmenttakencurrentlyaregiven

inTable2.

The most common disease found among

policemenwashypertension(11.29%)followedby

diabetes(7.69%).Gastrointestinal and Psychiatric

diseasesweretheleastcommon.

Various forms of tobacco addictions were

presentin186(44.8%)policemen,outofwhich31

Table2:DiseaseprofileandTreatmentStatusofstudyParticipants(n=125;30%)

Figure2:TobaccoAddictiondetailsamongpolicemen(n=416)

CrossSectionalStudyonHealthProfileofPolicemen...

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Solankietal

(16.6%) had addiction for only tobacco smoking

type, 148 (79.6%) had addiction of only tobacco

chewing type, while 7 (3.8%) had both forms of

tobaccoaddictionsasshowninfigure2.Outoftotal

participants with tobacco addictions,105 (56%)

reported “stress” as a reason for intakeof tobacco

while 81 (44%) reported observing and following

habits of “peers” as their reason for intake of the

same.

Table3showsstatisticalsignificantassociation

betweendesignationofpoliceofficersatthetimeof

study and perceived impact on lifestyle variables

such as tobacco addiction, fast food consumption

habit,diseasedconditionanddisturbedsleep.Allthe

abovementionedriskfactorsweremorecommonly

seen in lower ranking personnel (Constable and

HeadConstable).

Majorityofpolicemen335(80.5%)didnotplay

any sports, while 81(19.5%) played sports like

cricket, volleyball, football and kabaddi. Upto 60

minutesofsportsactivitywasfoundin24(29.6%)of

participants while 57 (70.4%) had more than 60

minutesofSportsactivity.Thosewhoplayedsports

Table3:DiseaseprofileandTreatmentStatusofstudyParticipants(n=125;30%)

dailywere13(3.1%),68(16.3%)playedsportsasper

theirconvenientdaysinaweek.

During the last one year, 23 (5.5%) policemen

sufferedfromlowerlimbinjury,14(3.4%)hadupper

limbinjuries,13(3.1%)hadheadandneckinjuries

while3(0.7%)hadtorsoinjuriesasshowninfigure3.

406 (97.6%) participants were living with their

familieswhile10(2.4%)werelivingawayfromtheir

home. Among total policemen in the study, 295

(70.9%)saidthattheirworkdidimpacttheirfamily

lifewhile121(29.1%)saidtheirworkdidnotimpact

familylife.

403 (96.9%) participants undertook medical

checkups last year, out of which 368 (88.5%) had

undergone checkup once in previous year. 374

(89.9%) of total participants stated Government

requirementasareasonformedicalcheckup.Figure

4 shows exercise details of policemen, maximum

policeofficersweredoingotherexerciseslikeyoga

andbrisk-walkingfollowedbyrunning.Cyclingwas

found to be the least common exercise among

policemen.


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* *

*ASI=AssistantSubInspector *PSI=PoliceSubInspector

Figure3:DistributionofStudySubjectsaccordingtoanatomicalsitewhereinjurywassustainedduringlastoneyear(n=53)

Figure4:Distributionofstudyparticipantsaccordingtothetypeofexercisepreferredbythem(n=255)

Discussion:

Atotalof416randomlyselectedmalepolicemen

were included as participant in present study.

Maximumparticipantswereinagegroupof31to40

years (35.8%).Themeanageof studyparticipants

was42.5+9.32yearswhich is inaccordancewith [ 2 ]

S t u d y o n P o l i c em e n a t D e l h i a n d [ 8 ]Pondicherry. Almost half (46.9%) of the

participantshadgraduateoraboveeducation.Inthe

presentstudy,44.7%weregraduateswhichissimilar[2]tothestudyatDelhi (47.3%)whileanotherstudyat

[7]Mumbai showed 49% participants with higher

secondary education. Type of family as Nuclear

family was found in most (61.8%) participants.

98.6% participants were married in the present

study while 91% policemen were married in the

[7]study at Mumbai. Most participants (94.5%)

belonged to Class 1 and 2 of modified BJ Prasad

ClassificationforSocioeconomicstatus.

Maximumpolicemenwereofconstabularyrank [2](59.4%) in the present study while Delhi and

[8]Pondicherry PoliceStudiesshowed79.3%and67%

constablesrespectively.Dutyhourswere9-16hours

perdayinmostpolicemen(89.7%)inpresentstudy

while thesamebeing12-16hoursperday in56%[7]

policemenofMumbai.

MeanBodyMassIndex(BMI)inthepresentstudy2

was25.52±3.67kg/m which is in linewithDelhi[2]Policemen showing mean BMI 25.6 ± 3.6 and

[14]Kolkata withmeanBMIof24.08±2.8.Overweight

(BMI >23) policemen were 20% and Obese (BMI

>25)categorywere55.3%inpresentstudywhichis [8]

very similar to Pondicherry study showing

overweight25.3%andObese51.6%.

Mean height and weight of policemen in the

current studywere 170.63 ± 0.54 cm and 74.23 ±

10.50 kg which were nearer to the findings of[14]Kolkata (172.77 ± 4.93cm, 71.94 ± 9.37 kg) and

[2]Delhi (172.7±6.6cm,76.6±11.9kg)respectively.

[15] AsperaWHOreport, ahealthywaisthipratio

formen is 0.9 or less. Present study found higher

meanwaisthipratioof1.0±0.03similartostudyin[2]

Delhi(0.99±0.06)

Tobaccoaddictionwasfoundin45%policemenin

present study which is much higher than[2] [8]

Delhi (33.5%), Pondicherry (23%) and even

higherthanGujaratStateTobaccoaddiction(38.7%)[16]amongadultmen. Addictionwasmorecommonin

participants having field duty compared to those

having only office duty. Also, addiction was more

common amongst lower cadre of participants.

Possiblereasonmaybetheirworkinfieldduties.

More than quarter (30%) participants suffered

from one or more co-morbidities. Amongst that

hypertensionwasmostcommon.Ameta-analysisin [17]India showed the prevalence of hypertension in

urbanwestIndiatobe35.8%ingeneralpopulation


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Solankietal

Majority suffered from perceived stress and their

consequences.

Recommendations:

Periodic and more frequent Health checkups

need to be carried out. A Holistic counseling

approachwhich includesdietarycounseling,stress

managementandde-addictionsessionsarerequired.

TheGovernmentneedstoreviewhealthprofileafter

certain specified fine interval and shall try to

maintainabalancedworkschedulefortheprotectors

ofthecity.

Declaration:

Funding:Nil

ConflictofInterest:Nil

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ThangarajS,ChinnakaliP.Highprevalenceofcardiovascularrisk

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whilepresentstudyshowedmuchlessprevalenceof

11.29%amongpolicemen.Possible lowprevalence

inpolicemenmaybeduetotheirapparentlyhealthy

statusattimeofselection.

Meansystolicbloodpressurewas128.36±7.0

while a study among police personnel done at[18]Chennai hadmeansystolicbloodpressure128.3±

[14]18.8 and Kolkata showed mean systolic blood

pressure 130.81 ± 13.43. Mean Diastolic blood

pressureinpresentstudywas80.62±3.66whichis [18]

lowerascomparedtoChennai (85.5±12.5)and[14]

Kolkata (82.08±7.06).PrevalenceofDiabeteswas

7.6% in police officers of present study which is[2] [1] lowerthanDelhi (12%),Kerala (12.5%),Mumbai

[7] [8](12.7%)andPondicherry(33.6%).

Due to high workload almost three quarter of

participants (70.9%) informed that work stress

affectedtheir family life.74.03%participantswere

under stress asper current studywhich is slightly[8]

higher than Pondicherry Police(69.5%). And the

work stress lead to various health related

consequenceslikeacidity,headache,pepticulcerand

insomnia.Most participants (61.3%) had habit of

regular exercising which is necessary to remain

physicallyfit.

Statistical association was obtained between

currentdesignationandlifestylehabitsliketobacco

addictionandfastfoodconsumption.Theselifestyles

were more common amongst lower cadre of

policemen.Similarly,disturbedsleepandpresenceof

co-morbidity was also more common amongst

policemenof lowercadre.Possiblereasonsmaybe

duetofieldworkandstresstomeetexpectationsof

seniorpoliceofficers.

Conclusion:

Present study showed high prevalence of

OverweightandObesityamongstmalepolicemenof

Ahmedabad city. Factors like Improper dietary

habits, presence of disease, disturbed sleep and

tobacco addictions amongst Policemen had a

significantassociationwiththeirworkdesignation.


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Solankietal

original article a cross sectional study on assessment of

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