Citation

West C, Fekedulegn D, Andrew M, Burchfiel CM, Harlow S, Bingham CR, McCullagh M, Park SK, Violanti J. J. Occup. Environ. Med. 2017; 59(11): 1084-1088.

Affiliation

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, Ohio (Drs West, Fekedulegn, Andrew, Burchfiel); Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Drs Harlow, Park); Department of Health Behavior Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Dr Bingham); School of Nursing, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan (Dr McCullagh); and Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York (Dr Violanti).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/JOM.0000000000001137

PMID

28816733

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We examined prevalence, frequency, duration, and recency of injury leave and the association of duty-related injury with perceived stress in U.S. police officers.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study contained 422 active duty police officers from a mid-sized urban police department. For each participating officer, work history records were used to assess on-duty injuries that lead to work absences. Linear regression analyses were used for analyses.

RESULTS: Most participants had experienced at least one injury (62%), and among those injured, 67% experienced more than one duty-related injury. The average number of injuries per officer was three (range 1 to 12). There was a significant linear trend in mean perceived stress across injury count even after adjusting for age, rank, and sex (P = 0.025).

CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that work-related injury is common and repeated work-related injuries are psychologically distressing in U.S. police officers.

Language: en