Job Stress Raises Women's Heart Attack Risk

A stressful job can have serious consequences for heart health, according to a new study.

U.S. women who rated their job strain as high were 67 percent more likely to have a heart attack, and 38 percent more likely to experience a stroke or high blood pressure, compared with women who said their job strain was low.

The researchers said that the study confirmed what others have previously found: stress at work has important implications for health.

However, the new study - published in PLOS ONE Journal Information - also showed that having control over one's job made less difference than previous research has suggested.

This 10 year prospective study of female health professionals revealed that women with active jobs (high demand, high control) and high strain (high demand, low control) were 38% more likely to experience a first Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) event relative to women reporting low job strain, adjusting age, race, study drug randomization, education, and income. In a sub-analysis that included women with complete data on a broader range of covariates, the association between high strain and CVD was not significant after adjustment for SES and traditional coronary risk factors, whereas women with active jobs were 50% more likely to experience a CVD event even after adjustment for these factors. These results suggest that women with high strain and active jobs potentially experience long-term vascular effects where high demand appears to be the critical factor. Job insecurity did not predict incident CVD, but was cross-sectionally associated with risk factors for CVD including smoking, physical inactivity, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and BMI in bivariate analyses.

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AplusA-online.de - Source: PLOS ONE Journal Information