Differences in Body Composition across Police Occupations and Moderation Effects of Leisure Time Physical Activity

Filip Kukić, Katie M. Heinrich, Nenad Koropanovski, Walker S. C. Poston, Aleksandar Čvorović, J. Jay Dawes, Robin Orr and Milivoj Dopsaj
Additional contact information
Filip Kukić: Police Sports Education Centre, Abu Dhabi Police, 253 Abu Dhabi, UAE
Katie M. Heinrich: Department of Kinesiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
Nenad Koropanovski: Department of Criminalistics, University of Criminal Investigation and Police Studies, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia
Walker S. C. Poston: NDRI-USA, New York, NY 10001, USA
Aleksandar Čvorović: Police Sports Education Centre, Abu Dhabi Police, 253 Abu Dhabi, UAE
J. Jay Dawes: School of Kinesiology, Applied Health and Recreation, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74074, USA
Robin Orr: Tactical Research Unit, Bond University, Robina, QLD 4226, Australia
Milivoj Dopsaj: Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: This study investigated differences in the body composition of police officers from different occupational groups and the moderation effects of leisure time physical activity (LTPA). A sample of 237 police officers (special anti-terrorist unit, gendarmerie, firefighters, and general duties) participated in the study. Body mass index (BMI), percent of body fat (%BF), percent of skeletal muscle mass (%SMM), and index of hypokinesia (IH) were assessed using a multichannel bioelectric impedance analyzer and officers reported the amount of LTPA using an international physical activity questionnaire. The sample was divided in three groups relative to LTPA, sedentary (0–149 min/week), moderately active (150–299 min/week), and very active (300+ min/week). Multiple analysis of variance (4 × 3) was used to analyze if occupational groups differed based solely on occupation, if officers from the same occupation differed in muscularity and fatness based on LTPA, and if any differences in body composition occurred between officers from different occupations with the same level of LTPA. Police officers from more physically demanding occupations demonstrated lower %BF and IH, while having higher %SMM. This was also observed among the officers of the same occupation who reported a higher LTPA, while officers who reported very high LTPA had similar body composition.

Keywords: skeletal muscle mass; body fat; occupational health; tactical athletes; law enforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6825/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6825/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6825-:d:415703

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().