Association of dyslipidemia, hypertension and overweight/obesity with work shift and duration of employment among police officers in a small town in Northeastern Brazil

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome and chronic diseases have impact on the job performance of police officers. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of overweight/obesity and cardiovascular risk factors with work shift and duration of employment among police officers. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with 102 police officers in Cajazeiras, Paraíba, Brazil, in which we analyzed sociodemographic data, occupational characteristics, body mass index (BMI), lipid profile, personal history of disease and lifestyle. Statistical analysis included the chi-square and Fisher’s exact test. RESULTS: Overweight/obesity was found among most participants (83.3%). Hypertriglyceridemia (49.1%), low HDL-C (56.9%) and high LDL-C (46.1%) levels were associated with abnormal BMI (p<0.05). Hypertension was the main disease reported by overweight/obese participants (28.2%) (p=0.01). Job position, lifestyle and work shift were not associated with any of the analyzed variables, however, abnormal BMI, dyslipidemia, and hypertension were frequent among the participants with 6-10 or more than 10 years in the job (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Part of the participants with at least 6 years in the job exhibited overweight/obesity in association with dyslipidemia and hypertension. We recommend prevention and therapeutic strategies to protect officers from chronic diseases or attenuate their long-term complications. Additional prospective studies are needed to confirm the associations we found, mainly between duration of employment and occupational diseases.