(Yahoo.com – MyHealthNewsDaily) – Firefighters and police officers are less likely to know they have high blood pressure and to take medicine to treat the condition compared with workers in many other occupations, a recent study suggests.
Researchers looked at whether a person’s occupation played a role in high blood pressure. Out of nearly 7,000 U.S. workers, 1 in 5 had high blood pressure.
Among police officers and firefighters, 25 percent had high blood pressure, but only about 50 percent of those knew it. In contrast, 73 percent of people working in sales and 78 percent of people working in service occupations, such as food service or health service, who had high blood pressure were aware of their condition.
Cops and firefighters also ranked among the lowest among professions in terms of the percentage of people who knew they had high blood pressure and were taking medication for it, and the percentage of those taking medication whose blood pressure was under control.
“These workers have uniquely stressful situations where their actions and decisions can mean the difference between life and death,” said lead author Evelyn P. Davila, who was with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time of the study.
Although job stress was not measured in the study, other studies have shown high stress levels among police officers and firefighters, Davila said.
The findings suggest a need to better manage high blood pressure among workers in protective services, a category that also includes security workers, along with police and firefighters.
“These workers might need greater awareness of this problem,” she said. “It’s possible that they’re not told they might be at higher risk for hypertension.”
High blood pressure among U.S. workers
An estimated 67 million people in the U.S. have high blood pressure, and more than half don’t have it under control, according to the CDC.
Loading ...
Loading ...