Table 1.
Risk of sudden cardiac death among law enforcement officers engaged in emergency and strenuous duties compared with officers engaged in routine/non-emergency duties. Combined data from National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Officer Down Memorial Page (1984-2010)*
| Duty | Observed events (%) | Frontline police officers survey | Police chiefs survey | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % time per duty† | Expected events | O:E | Relative risk (95% CI) | % time per duty† | Expected events | O:E | Relative risk (95% CI) | |||
| Routine/non-emergency | 101 (23.4) | 77.4 | 333.6 | 0.30 | Reference | 72.8 | 313.8 | 0.32 | Reference | |
| Disturbance | 20 (4.6) | 9.6 | 41.4 | 0.48 | 1.60 (0.99 to 2.58) | 8.8 | 37.9 | 0.53 | 1.64 (1.01 to 2.65) | |
| Testifying in court | 3 (0.7) | 1.4 | 6.0 | 0.50 | 1.64 (0.52 to 5.18) | 1.3 | 5.6 | 0.54 | 1.66 (0.53 to 5.24) | |
| Serving warrant | 6 (1.4) | 1.6 | 6.9 | 0.87 | 2.87 (1.26 to 6.55) | 2.4 | 10.3 | 0.58 | 1.80 (0.79 to 4.11) | |
| Transporting or supervising prisoners | 18 (4.2) | 2.2 | 9.5 | 1.90 | 6.27 (3.80 to 10.4) | 4.1 | 17.7 | 1.02 | 3.16 (1.92 to 5.22) | |
| Medical and rescue operations | 34 (7.9) | 2.9 | 12.5 | 2.72 | 8.98 (6.09 to 13.3) | 3.9 | 16.8 | 2.02 | 6.28 (4.26 to 9.27) | |
| Physical training | 88 (20.4) | 2.9 | 12.5 | 7.04 | 23.3 (17.5 to 30.9) | 3.1 | 13.4 | 6.59 | 20.5 (15.4 to 27.2) | |
| Pursuit | 53 (12.3) | 0.8 | 3.5 | 15.4 | 50.8 (36.4 to 70.8) | 1.2 | 5.2 | 10.2 | 31.8 (22.8 to 44.4) | |
| Restraint, physical altercation | 108 (25.1) | 1.2 | 5.2 | 20.9 | 69.0 (52.6 to 90.5) | 2.3 | 9.9 | 10.9 | 33.8 (25.8 to 44.4) | |
O/E=observed over expected number of events.
*Results ordered by magnitude of estimated relative risk based on frontline police officers survey.
†Based on data from Korre et al13; see table A in appendix 2.