For Cops, Exposure to Stressful Situations Dysregulates Cortisol Pattern

Summary: Cortisol functions differently in police officers who have experienced extremely stressful situations while at work. The disturbances to regular cortisol function may leave them more vulnerable to diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, researchers report.

Source: University at Buffalo.

Disturbance of awakening cortisol pattern can leave officers vulnerable to cardiovascular disease.

For most people, cortisol, the vital hormone that controls stress, increases when they wake up. It’s the body’s way of preparing us for the day.

But in police officers who’ve experienced intense stress on the job, cortisol functions much differently, according to recent research from the University at Buffalo and funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

A study of more than 300 members of the Buffalo Police Department suggests that police events or conditions considered highly stressful by the officers may be associated with disturbances of the normal awakening cortisol pattern. That can leave the officers vulnerable to disease, particularly cardiovascular disease, which already affects a large number of officers.

“We wanted to look at what stressors most affect police officers in their work and what affect that has in the dysregulation of this awakening cortisol pattern,” said John Violanti, PhD, research professor of epidemiology and environmental health in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.

“Past studies haven’t really looked at the intensity of the stressor and how it affected this cortisol pattern. Here we looked at actual intensity,” adds Violanti, lead author on the paper, published in the January issue of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

The study included 338 Buffalo officers who were enrolled in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study, a long-term study Violanti began in 1999.

What stresses officers the most?

For this study, participating officers assessed a variety of on-the-job stressors using a questionnaire that asks officers to rate 60 police-related events with a “stress rating.” Events perceived as very stressful are assigned a higher rating.

Exposure to battered or dead children ranked as the most stressful event, followed by: killing someone in the line of duty; having a fellow officer killed on duty; a situation requiring the use of force; and being physically attacked.

Identifying the five most intense stressors police can face was significant, Violanti said. “When we talk about interventions to help prevent disease, it’s tricky because these stressors are things that can’t be prevented,” he said. “That’s why the availability of peer support programs within police departments is important.”

The survey showed that the officers experienced one of the five major stressors, on average, 2.4 times during the month before the survey was completed.

Blunted cortisol pattern seen in stressed officers

Researchers looked at the cortisol patterns of officers who reported experiencing one of the top five stressors and compared the patterns to officers who encountered the five least stressful events, such as promotions and strained relations with non-police friends. Cortisol was measured using saliva samples taken upon waking up, and 15, 30 and 45 minutes thereafter.

Officers who weren’t as stressed showed a steep and steady, or regular, increase in cortisol from baseline. However, officers with a moderate and high major stress index had a blunted response over time.

Image shows a police jacket.
The survey showed that the officers experienced one of the five major stressors, on average, 2.4 times during the month before the survey was completed. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.

That’s because stress affects a system in the body known as the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, or HPA Axis. When you’re stressed, the HPA Axis elicits cortisol, a hormone that gets the body going and activates against the stressor, Violanti explained. Under normal circumstances, the body’s cortisol pattern looks like a normal bell curve: It rises when we wake up, peaks around midday and comes back down at bed time.

“If you experience chronic stress or high stress situations, the cortisol can no longer adjust normally like this. So what happens with people under a lot of stress, the cortisol flattens out. For some people it goes down and others it goes up and stays up. That’s called the dysregulation of the HPA axis,” said Violanti, who served with the New York State Police for 23 years before shifting into academia.

Implications for departments across the U.S.

Previous studies have found that a dysregulation of awakening cortisol can lead to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, Violanti said, adding that police officers die from cardiovascular disease more often than the general population. In fact, Violanti’s research revealed that heart disease, diabetes and suicide, among other causes, are why the average age of death for male Buffalo Police Officers is 68, compared to 78 for the general population.

While the current study focused on Buffalo officers, the findings have implications for cops around the country, said paper co-author Michael Andrew, PhD, chief of the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch of the CDC/NIOSH Health Effects Laboratory Division in Morgantown, West Virginia.

“These findings show that exposure to major events inherent to police work may lead to a temporary reduction in the biological ability to respond to further stressful events. Since the major stressor events in this study were originally developed to reflect events that can apply to any police department, these results should generalize, more or less, to any police department in the U.S.,” Andrew said, adding, “This points to the need for continued focus on supporting police officer health.”

About this psychology research article

Source: David Kohn – University at Buffalo
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Full open access research for “The impact of perceived intensity and frequency of police work occupational stressors on the cortisol awakening response (CAR): Findings from the BCOPS study” by John M. Violanti, Desta Fekedulegn, Michael E. Andrew, Tara A. Hartley, Luenda E. Charles, Diane B. Miller, and Cecil M. Burchfiel in Psychoneuroendocrinology. Published online January 30 2017 doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.10.017

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]University at Buffalo “For Cops, Exposure to Stressful Situations Dysregulates Cortisol Pattern.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 7 February 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/stress-cortisol-cops-6079/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]University at Buffalo (2017, February 7). For Cops, Exposure to Stressful Situations Dysregulates Cortisol Pattern. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved February 7, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/stress-cortisol-cops-6079/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]University at Buffalo “For Cops, Exposure to Stressful Situations Dysregulates Cortisol Pattern.” https://neurosciencenews.com/stress-cortisol-cops-6079/ (accessed February 7, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

The impact of perceived intensity and frequency of police work occupational stressors on the cortisol awakening response (CAR): Findings from the BCOPS study

Police officers encounter unpredictable, evolving, and escalating stressful demands in their work. Utilizing the Spielberger Police Stress Survey (60-item instrument for assessing specific conditions or events considered to be stressors in police work), the present study examined the association of the top five highly rated and bottom five least rated work stressors among police officers with their awakening cortisol pattern. Participants were police officers enrolled in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study (n = 338). For each group, the total stress index (product of rating and frequency of the stressor) was calculated. Participants collected saliva by means of Salivettes at four time points: on awakening, 15, 30 and 45 min after waking to examine the cortisol awakening response (CAR). Saliva samples were analyzed for free cortisol concentrations. A slope reflecting the awakening pattern of cortisol over time was estimated by fitting a linear regression model relating cortisol in log-scale to time of collection. The slope served as the outcome variable. Analysis of covariance, regression, and repeated measures models were used to determine if there was an association of the stress index with the waking cortisol pattern. There was a significant negative linear association between total stress index of the five highest stressful events and slope of the awakening cortisol regression line (trend p-value = 0.0024). As the stress index increased, the pattern of the awakening cortisol regression line tended to flatten. Officers with a zero stress index showed a steep and steady increase in cortisol from baseline (which is often observed) while officers with a moderate or high stress index showed a dampened or flatter response over time. Conversely, the total stress index of the five least rated events was not significantly associated with the awakening cortisol pattern. The study suggests that police events or conditions considered highly stressful by the officers may be associated with disturbances of the typical awakening cortisol pattern. The results are consistent with previous research where chronic exposure to stressors is associated with a diminished awakening cortisol response pattern.

“Adaptive and Behavioral Changes in Kynurenine 3-Monooxygenase Knockout Mice: Relevance to Psychotic Disorders” by Sophie Erhardt, Ana Pocivavsek, Mariaelena Repici, Xi-Cong Liu, Sophie Imbeault, Daniel C. Maddison, Marian A.R. Thomas, Joshua L. Smalley, Markus K. Larsson, Paul J. Muchowski, Flaviano Giorgini, and Robert Schwarcz in Biological Psychiatry. Published online December 16 2016 doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.12.011

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