Work ability of military police officers.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of work ability (WA) and describe characteristics of the subgroup with poor WA among military police officers.

Methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional study with 329 male military police officers engaged in street patrolling in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, selected by proportionate stratified sampling. The Work Ability Index and a structured form were used to collect information about age, education, marital status, housing, salary, car ownership, work hours, rank (official or enlisted), drinking, smoking, frequency of vigorous physical activity, and obesity. Data were analyzed by uni and bivariate statistical techniques.

Results: The work ability of the 329 military police officers was classified as poor (10.3%), moderate (28.9%), good (34.7%), and excellent (26.1%), with mean score of 37.8 and standard deviation of 7.3 points. Policemen with poor work ability, compared with those with moderate, good or excellent WA, presented higher proportions of individuals who did not own their residences (p < 0.001), with work hours above eight hours/day (p < 0.026), and obesity (p < 0.001). In the subgroup of the 26 policemen who concomitantly did not own their residences, worked more than eight 8 hours/day and were obese, the prevalence of poor work ability was 31.0%. The prevalence of poor WA was 31.0% among the 29 policemen who were simultaneously obese and did not own their residences and of 27.9% among the 43 policemen who were obese and work hours above eight hours/day.

Conclusions: A high percentage of military police officers from Salvador presented poor or moderate work ability, which may hamper or compromise their policing activities. The prevalence of poor work ability was higher among the policemen who did not own their residences, worked more than 8 hours/day and were obese.