Obesity and sleep: The Buffalo Police health study

Purpose: Thus study aims to look at the prevalence of obesity and its association with sleep problems among police officers. Design/methodology/value: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of the relationship between obesity and sleep disorders among 110 randomly selected police officers from the Buffalo, New York, Police Department in 1999. Participants, who ranged in age from 26 to 61 years (mean±SD=39.5±7.5), responded to sleep related questions and had anthropometric measurements taken. Findings: Results show that several measures of obesity were significantly associated with sleep-disordered breathing in police officers, but not with other sleep problems. Originality/value: A major strength of the study was that it was conducted in a cooperative and motivated study population. It was possible to assess a wide range of anthropometric measurements, including many that are important but are rarely used to measure obesity in epidemiologic studies such as abdominal height, neck circumference, and neck-to-height ratio. In addition, the assessment of the anthropometric indices was performed by trained clinic staff using standardized procedures.