Profiles of US Law Enforcement Officers’ Diagnosed Health Conditions

OBJECTIVE To assess comorbidity across five common health conditions. METHODS Surveys were collected from a probability-based sample of US law enforcement officers, and latent class models estimated for hypertension (HTN), high blood cholesterol (LDL), diabetes (DM), a gastrointestinal disorder (GI), and sleep apnea (SA). RESULTS The majority of officers (69.4%) were classified in a Healthy profile. One in four officers (23.7%) were classified in a LDL-HTN-DM profile. About 7% of officers were classified in a GI-SA-HTN profile. Age, sex, body mass index (BMI), exercise, and working a rotating shift assignment distinguished class membership. CONCLUSION Most officers reported good health. Law enforcement administrative or clinical assessments using readily accessible measures might be informative in identifying risk categories of need for more targeted prevention and treatment support.