Risky business: Stressful duties increase chance of sudden cardiac death among police

December 2014 — Stefanos Kales, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Vasileia Varvarigou, visiting scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that police officers in the U.S. face roughly 30 to 70 times higher risk of sudden cardiac death when they’re involved in stressful situations—suspect restraints, altercations, or chases—than when they’re involved in routine or non-emergency activities.