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Age-Related Declines in Health and Fitness among Law Enforcement Officers Compared to Population Norms.
- Source :
- Healthcare (2227-9032); Apr2024, Vol. 12 Issue 7, p714, 13p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Physical fitness is mandatory for public safety officers. Police officers experience elevated levels of cardiovascular disease and associated risks making fitness a peak concern. Officers often have more marked fitness level decreases with aging compared to the general population. This cross-sectional study investigated the cardiovascular health, muscular strength/endurance, and mobility of officers in a medium-sized police department (N = 83); (4 females, 79 males), age (36.82 ± 10 years), height (179.02 ± 7.7 cm), body mass (95.1 ± 16.29 kg) compared to American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines. The findings revealed that police officers begin their careers with above average strength but demonstrate greater declines with age than the general population. Officers also demonstrated cardiovascular fitness below ACSM standards and significant decreases with aging compared to the general population. Body fat percentages (p = 0.003) and BMI (p = 0.028) surpassed recommendations, with higher than normal increases with age. Maximum vertical jump decreased as officers age (p = 0.004). These findings support the implementation of a targeted physical fitness regimen and the resources for a program designed to improve current health and fitness, reduce the greater than expected decreases with aging, and aim to optimize occupational performance and the safeguarding of the lifelong health and well-being of officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- CROSS-sectional method
HEALTH status indicators
BODY mass index
ADIPOSE tissues
STRETCH (Physiology)
DATA analysis
T-test (Statistics)
QUESTIONNAIRES
FUNCTIONAL assessment
KRUSKAL-Wallis Test
BODY composition
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
CHI-squared test
AGE distribution
MUSCLE strength
REACTIVE oxygen species
OXYGEN in the body
AGING
PHYSICAL fitness
CARDIOVASCULAR system physiology
ANALYSIS of variance
STATISTICS
POLICE
JUMPING
DATA analysis software
PHYSICAL mobility
GRIP strength
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 22279032
- Volume :
- 12
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Healthcare (2227-9032)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 176593616
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12070714