Stress at work leads to heart disease

Stress at work is an important risk factor for the development of heart disease and diabetes, according to a study by the British Medical Journal.

Researchers examined the association between work stress and the metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors that increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes) in 10,308 civil servants between 35 and 55, over a 14 year period.

Work stress was measured on four occasions between 1985 and 1999. Components of the metabolic syndrome, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels, were measured between 1997 and 1999.

A dose-response relation was found between exposure to job stress and the metabolic syndrome, even after adjusting for other risk factors. For example, men with chronic work stress were nearly twice as likely to develop the syndrome as those with no exposure to work stress. Women with chronic work stress were also more likely to have the syndrome, but they formed a small group.
This study provides evidence for the biological plausibility of psychosocial stress mechanisms linking stressors from everyday life with heart disease.