Emotional Eating and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the Police Force: The Carolina Blue Project

Ya-Ke Wu (), Tany G. Pacchioni, Anil K. Gehi, Katherine E. Fitzgerald and Divya V. Tailor
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Ya-Ke Wu: School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Tany G. Pacchioni: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Anil K. Gehi: Division of Cardiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Katherine E. Fitzgerald: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Divya V. Tailor: Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: There is an association between emotional eating and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors; however, little is known about this association in the police force. This study explores the associations between emotional eating and CVD risk factors in law enforcement officers in North Carolina. Four hundred and five officers completed The Emotional Eating Scale, and 221 of them completed the assessment for CVD-related markers. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Emotional eating in response to anger was significantly positively associated with body weight ( β = 1.51, t = 2.07, p = 0.04), diastolic blood pressure ( β = 0.83, t = 2.18, p = 0.03), and mean arterial pressure ( β = 0.84, t = 2.19, p = 0.03) after adjusting for age and use of blood pressure medicine. Emotional eating in response to depression was significantly positively associated with triglycerides ( β = 5.28, t = 2.49, p = 0.02), while the emotional eating in response to anxiety was significantly negatively associated with triglycerides ( β = −11.42, t = −2.64, p = 0.01), after adjusting for age and use of cholesterol medicine. Our findings offer new insights to address emotional eating and lower CVD risk in law enforcement officers.

Keywords: emotional eating; cardiovascular disease risk factors; law enforcement officers; police force; North Carolina; the Carolina Blue Project (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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