SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERARM PRESSURE DIFFERENCE AND STRESS- A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY IN POLICE WORKER

Background: Interarm pressure difference more than 10 mm of Hg is predictor of cardiovascular and metabolic risk. There is high prevalence of obesity and stress in police personnel because of stressful working environment. With this background the present study conducted to access the relation of interarm blood pressure difference with stress in police personnel.Aims and Objective: To assess the prevalence of stress among police personnel and to see its association with interarm pressure difference.Material and Method: This cross-sectional observational study done on 245 police worker in PAC, Sitapur, India. Subjects having more than ten years of working experience were included in study. Anthropometric measurements of subject recorded by following standard protocol. Measurement of systolic pressure in both arm recorded simultaneously by mercury sphygmomanometer. Occupation related stress was measured by using preformed police stress questionnaire, each having 20 items. Result expressed as mild, moderate or severe stress. Available data analyse and expressed in percentage, mean with SD and chi square test to see the significance of association.Results: Study result showed that 34.29 percent of subjects showed abnormally high (?10 mmHg) inter-arm systolic blood pressure difference and shows high significant association with duration of service and with stress of police personnel.  Conclusion: Interarm blood pressure difference is greater in individual having stress or prolong duration of service. Such subjects are more susceptible to develop cardiovascular or metabolic disorder in future. Early screening can help to detect the vascular events likely to occur in the futureKeywords: Body mass index, Interarm pressure difference, Stress, shift worker