Posted on 12/14/2004 6:45:03 PM PST by FairOpinion
Men were 80 percent more likely to have a heart attack if they had experienced a conflict at work within the preceding 12 months. For women, a change in financial circumstances tripled their risk. Men were six times as likely to have a heart attack if they had taken on increased responsibilities at work.
Working in a high-pressure environment on tight deadlines can cause a six-fold increase in the risk of having a heart attack. The research, published today, found that short-term intense pressures have a greater impact on the heart that prolonged periods of accumulated stress.
Work-related stress plays one of the greatest roles in impairing heart health.
Conflicts at work were identified as a contributing factor to heart attacks in men, while financial problems are most likely to put a strain on women's hearts.
Six Times Scientists from Sweden found that a high pressure work deadline boosts the chances of a heart attack within the next 24 hours by a factor of six.
The alarming findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, follow a study of more than 3,500 people, who took part in the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program -- also known as SHEEP.
This aim of the program is to monitor the number of first heart attacks in healthy people who were aged between 45 and 70 at the start of the study in the early 1990s.
The research fell into three parts, using surveys and interviews with the participants. The first part explored whether specific life events within the preceding 12 months increased the risk of a heart attack.
Sex Differences Men were 80 percent more likely to have a heart attack if they had experienced a conflict at work within the preceding 12 months.
For women, a change in financial circumstances tripled their risk. Women were also three times as likely, and men six times as likely to have a heart attack if they had taken on increased responsibilities at work, particularly when these were viewed negatively.
A high pressure deadline upped the risk of a heart attack within the next 24 hours by a factor of six.
Being put in a competitive situation at work doubled the risk, and being praised by the boss more than doubled the risk, although the researchers, from Sweden's Department of Public Health Sciences, suggest that this is probably associated with meeting a pressurized deadline.
Emyr Williams, spokesperson for the British Heart Foundation in Wales said, "While stress is not one of the main risk factors for coronary heart disease, the link between the two is becoming clearer as more research is done. The main risk factors are high blood cholesterol, low physical activity, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and family history."
Men were 80 percent more likely to have a heart attack if they had experienced a conflict at work within the preceding 12 months.
I must be living on borrowed time, then. I can't think of when the last day was that I went to work and did not experience "conflict".
high blood cholesterol, low physical activity, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and family history."
and just plain living!
News from the Department of the Astoundingly Obvious.
Stop the presses...we're all gonna die
comming soon: science discovers night follows day.
and
white mice cause cancer.
Who knew? No, seriously!
I wonder where they found work related stress in Sweden. I understand that no matter how bad you foul up, you can't be fired.
DOH!!!!
I guess they couldn't come up with an acronym for LAB RATS.
And you wonder why I have a difficult time taking medical news seriously....
Will drinking 10 beers a night increase my risk of becoming drunk?
I'm sure someone got tax dollars to do this 'study.'
and
white mice cause cancer.
And someone is getting paid by tax dollars to study that, too.
longtermmemmory meet eccentric ---I'd forget my hair if it wasn't connected. It's not and I have....
LOL
It's stunningly obvious (as are the discoveries that stress is a huge factor in poor diet, low physical activity, and their resultant health risks (obesity, high BP) are also caused by a high stress life.
Hey, if you're already being pushed into long hours, you're not going to exercise, you'll eat whatever you can grab quickly so you might *possibly* see home for more than a brief visit before returning to work, and you'll be in constant readiness for trouble.
As such this is dumb research but since big corporations do *nothing* without 'official' data anymore maybe this might encourage a few to cut their health costs by treating employees as something other than disposable work units.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.