(it IS important so please don't shoot the messenger!)
From the NIOSH blog:
Stress and Health in Law Enforcement
- Earlier this month the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health released a special issue highlighting research from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study and from related studies of morbidity and mortality among police officers. The BCOPS study is an investigation of the early or subclinical health consequences of stress in police officers and examines associations between a variety of officer exposures and outcomes including stress, shift work, traumatic incidents, lifestyle factors, stress biomarkers, body measures, and subclinical metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
- The results presented in the special issue confirm and extend previous research on police officers. Information gained through the BCOPS study and other related investigations may be useful not only to aid further investigation of the health status of police officers, but may also be relevant for other high stress, first responder occupations. The BCOPS study offers useful information on associations between exposures and outcomes at a point in time. Yet, in an ongoing follow-up study with this same group of police officers, we will confirm if these observed relationships are likely to be causal, that is do earlier exposures to stress and shift work lead to changes in health outcomes over time.