Police, firefighters, urban cleaners, drivers, gardeners and gravediggers and risk behaviors related to Alcohol, Tobacco, Obesity and Sleep: different professions, different consumption, different interventions?

Thursday, 24 November, 2022 - 10:50 to 12:20

Abstract

Background: To support differentiated interventions in Occupational Health (OH), for prevention related to alcohol, tobacco, obesity, sleep and other risky health behaviors (global major health determinants), in different professional groups (firemen, urban cleaners, drivers, police, gardeners, gravediggers, administrative workers, etc; over 10.000 workers, with stable subpopulations) of the Municipality of Lisbon, a large-scale study was designed.

Methods: Cross-sectional observational study based on OH Indicators that compared different professional risky health behaviors (April 2018 to March 2021; sample n=6,840; men: 58%; 62.3% of the total of municipal workers N=10,972). Dependent variables: alcohol consumption (AUDIT), tobacco dependence and motivation for smoking cessation (Fargerstrom and Richmond Test, respectively), drowsiness/sleep questionnaire, risk of Sleep Apnea (STOP-Bang) and Obesity (BMI). Associations with sociodemographic and professional variables, comorbidities and protective factors (physical exercise and others) were evaluated.

Results: The general results were exhaustive and extensive (alcohol, tobacco, obesity, sleep, sedentary lifestyle, comorbidities, etc.), allowing the comparison of the workers studied with the National Studies of the general population in Portugal (for the same age group and sex).

Regarding to the differences behaviors and risk factors in the five main professional categories, in general, firefighters have a lower risk profile compared to the other categories. Operational assistants are most at risk for smoking and harmful alcohol consumption: Obesity: from 9.5% (firefighters) to 31.1% (police officers); Smoking: from 17.6% (administratives) to 30.7% (operational assistants); high dependency is higher among operational assistants (19.2%) and police officers (18.6%); motivation for smoking cessation is lower among police officers; Alcohol Risky consumption: from 7.6% (firefighters) to 10.8% (operational assistants);

Conclusion: Policemen, firemen, urban cleaners, drivers, gardeners, gravediggers, administrative and operational workers, have different risk health behaviors and need differentiated interventions in OH, for prevention related to alcohol, tobacco, obesity, sleep and other risk health behaviors.

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