Work-related stress as a cardiovascular risk factor in police officers: a systematic review of evidence.

PURPOSE: Several studies suggest that work-related stress in police officers may be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. A systematic review of studies is, however, still lacking. METHOD: According to PRISMA statement, a systematic search of PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Cinahl and PsychInfo electronic databases was undertaken. Studies published in English between 1/1/2000 and 31/12/2016 were included. A studies quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle Ottawa scale (NOS). RESULTS: The preliminary search retrieved 752 records. After selection, 16 studies (total population 17,698) were retrieved. The average quality of studies was low. Exposure to stress in cross-sectional studies was inconstantly associated with hypertension, obesity, dyslipidaemia, and impaired glucose metabolism. In addition, there was a prevalence of positive studies showing an association between stress and cardiovascular disease morbidity. Studies of higher quality, such as longitudinal studies on large sample size, were more supportive of a significant positive association between stress and cardiovascular risk factors. Results were, however, often conflicting and inconsistent with regard to definitions and measurement of stress, features of individual study design, study conduct, and conclusions drawn. CONCLUSIONS: A sound precautionary principle would be to adopt worksite health promotion programs designed to implement stress management strategies in this category of workers.

[Alcohol use in the construction industry: results of a survey]. / Uso di alcol in edilizia: risultati di una survey.

The CAGE questionnaire, integrated with socio-demographic data, was submitted to 239 workers of two construction companies. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 17.0. The association between alcohol abuse and other variables was performed by using the Chi-Square test and the possible correlation by using the coefficient r of Spearman. Alcohol abuse has affected the 21.3% of workers, with prevalence of mechanical fitters (80.00%), scaffolders (60.00%) and drivers (50.00%) and workers aged 31-40 years (28.33%) and > 60 years (30.00%). Alcohol abuse was associated with nationality (p = 0.001) (prevalence of 44.0% among subjects of European non-Italian nationality), marital status (p < 0.001) (prevalence of 55.55% among separated subjects) and education (p < 0.05) (prevalence of 28.18% among subjects with middle school diploma). The results suggest the need for preventive strategies and management of alcohol abuse, including for the possible interaction between alcohol and solvents, used in construction industry, in determining the "chronic solvent encefhalopathy" (CSE).