IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i2p172-d63134.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Blood Pressure, Sleep Quality and Fatigue in Shift Working Police Officers: Effects of a Twelve Hour Roster System on Cardiovascular and Sleep Health

Author

Listed:
  • Jaymen L. Elliott

    (Neuroscience Research Unit, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales 2007, Australia)

  • Sara Lal

    (Neuroscience Research Unit, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales 2007, Australia)

Abstract

Background: Police officers have been reported to exhibit a high incidence of pathologies, which present prematurely in an otherwise healthy population. Shift work has also been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and sleep disorders, attributable to its propensity for circadian rhythm dysfunction. However, contention exists as to whether shift work has a direct effect upon blood pressure (BP) regulation. Methods: This cross-sectional study sought to determine changes in BP and associations with the overall sleep quality and fatigue in 206 general duties police officers ( n = 140 males) of the New South Wales Police Force in Australia. The subjects’ BP was assessed before and after their twelve hour shift, during which time they also completed the Lifestyle Appraisal Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Results: Poor sleep quality (PSQI) and fatigue severity (FSS) were found to predominate in the sample (69% and 51% respectively). Although there was no change in BP for male participants, female officers’ systolic blood pressure (SBP) was found to increase significantly across the shift ( p < 0.001), but with no change found in females’ diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Finally, higher pre and post-shift SBP ( r = −0.26, p = 0.001; r = −0.25, p = 0.001, respectively) and DBP ( r = −0.26, p = 0.001; r = −0.26, p = 0.001, respectively) were significantly correlated with lower FSS scores after accounting for age, waist-hip ratio and lifestyle risk factors. Conclusions: Based on these preliminary findings, there was a significant increase in SBP of female police officers after shift work, while BP and fatigue levels in all police officers were strongly related. Moreover, the predominating poor sleep quality and impact of fatigue in this sample remain a concern. Further research is required to ensure the physiological welfare of police officers, while strategies must be implemented to manage the detrimental effects shift work may be having upon their cardiovascular and sleep health.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaymen L. Elliott & Sara Lal, 2016. "Blood Pressure, Sleep Quality and Fatigue in Shift Working Police Officers: Effects of a Twelve Hour Roster System on Cardiovascular and Sleep Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-8, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:2:p:172-:d:63134
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/2/172/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/2/172/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carla Sfreddo & Sandra Costa Fuchs & Álvaro Roberto Merlo & Flávio Danni Fuchs, 2010. "Shift Work Is Not Associated with High Blood Pressure or Prevalence of Hypertension," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(12), pages 1-5, December.
    2. Yanjun Guo & Yuewei Liu & Xiji Huang & Yi Rong & Meian He & Youjie Wang & Jing Yuan & Tangchun Wu & Weihong Chen, 2013. "The Effects of Shift Work on Sleeping Quality, Hypertension and Diabetes in Retired Workers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-6, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charli Sargent & Paul Roberts & Drew Dawson & Sally Ferguson & Lynn Meuleners & Libby Brook & Gregory D. Roach, 2016. "The Relationships between Human Fatigue and Public Health: A Brief Commentary on Selected Papers from the 9th International Conference on Managing Fatigue in Transportation, Resources and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-3, August.
    2. Sergio Garbarino & Ottavia Guglielmi & Matteo Puntoni & Nicola Luigi Bragazzi & Nicola Magnavita, 2019. "Sleep Quality among Police Officers: Implications and Insights from a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Zypher Jude G. Regencia & Godofreda V. Dalmacion & Antonio D. Ligsay & Emmanuel S. Baja, 2021. "Short-Term Cumulative Exposure to Ambient Traffic-Related Black Carbon and Blood Pressure: MMDA Traffic Enforcers’ Health Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-16, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara Gamboa Madeira & Carina Fernandes & Teresa Paiva & Carlos Santos Moreira & Daniel Caldeira, 2021. "The Impact of Different Types of Shift Work on Blood Pressure and Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Tomasz Sobierajski & Stanisław Surma & Monika Romańczyk & Maciej Banach & Suzanne Oparil, 2023. "Knowledge of Primary Care Patients Living in the Urban Areas about Risk Factors of Arterial Hypertension," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Miaomiao Sun & Wenting Feng & Feng Wang & Liuzhuo Zhang & Zijun Wu & Zhimin Li & Bo Zhang & Yonghua He & Shaohua Xie & Mengjie Li & Joan P C Fok & Gary Tse & Martin C S Wong & Jin-ling Tang & Samuel Y, 2018. "Night shift work exposure profile and obesity: Baseline results from a Chinese night shift worker cohort," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, May.
    4. Yanjun Guo & Yuewei Liu & Xiji Huang & Yi Rong & Meian He & Youjie Wang & Jing Yuan & Tangchun Wu & Weihong Chen, 2013. "The Effects of Shift Work on Sleeping Quality, Hypertension and Diabetes in Retired Workers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-6, August.
    5. Shengkui Zhang & Han Wang & Yongbin Wang & Miao Yu & Juxiang Yuan, 2021. "Association of Rotating Night Shift Work with Body Fat Percentage and Fat Mass Index among Female Steelworkers in North China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    6. Kai Lu & Jia Chen & Li Wang & Changying Wang & Rongjing Ding & Shouling Wu & Dayi Hu, 2017. "Association of Sleep Duration, Sleep Quality and Shift-Work Schedule in Relation to Hypertension Prevalence in Chinese Adult Males: A Cross-Sectional Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-12, February.
    7. Keyu Zhai & Xing Gao & Geng Wang, 2018. "The Role of Sleep Quality in the Psychological Well-Being of Final Year UndergraduateStudents in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-12, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:2:p:172-:d:63134. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.