Background and objective: The police force constitutes a special occupational group that requires particular attention to reduce cardiovascular risk and prevent premature cardiovascular disease (CVD). This cross-sectional study aimed to compare the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors between police personnel engaged in fieldwork and those engaged in office work.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, involving 2380 police personnel who attended preventive cardiac health check-ups between April 2023 and November 2023. Their demographic characteristics, department, post held, personality type, anthropometric parameters, addiction history, blood pressure, major illness history, dietary intake, and exercise were noted. Laboratory parameters including haemoglobin, serum creatinine, fasting blood sugar, and lipid profile were screened. Based on working patterns, we compared baseline characteristics and risk factors between fieldwork and office work groups. Logistic regression analysis was performed with work profile (Fieldwork=1, Office=0) as the dependent variable to identify factors independently associated with fieldwork.

Results: After multivariable adjustment (including age and sex), systolic pressure (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.008-1.02, P=<0.001), daily junk food consumption (OR 2.9, 95% CI 2.3-3.62, P<0.001), type A personality (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.21-1.92, P<0.001) and lack of exercise (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.18-1.83, P=0.001) were independently associated with belonging to the fieldwork group.

Conclusion: Fieldwork among police personnel was associated with a higher burden of adverse lifestyle and metabolic risk factors compared to office work. These findings highlight the need for targeted occupational health interventions in this subgroup.

July 2026; Vol. 20(2):002.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.55010/imcjms.20.011

*Correspondence: Pooja Vyas, Department of Cardiology, U.N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre (UNMICRC), Civil Hospital Campus, Asarwa, Ahmedabad-380016, Gujarat, India. Email:poojavyaskothari@gmail.com.

© 2026 The Author(s) This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(CC BY 4.0)