A new study has revealed that men working in stressful jobs and being paid less are twice as likely to develop heart disease compared to men without these psychosocial stressors. The study, published in the journal ‘Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes,’ focused on two stressors commonly found in the workplace – job strain and effort-reward imbalance – which were found to significantly increase the risk of heart disease.
The study’s lead researcher, Mathilde Lavigne-Robichaud from CHU de Quebec-University Laval Research Center in Canada, emphasized the importance of understanding the relationship between work stressors and cardiovascular health due to the amount of time people spend at work.
The research showed that men who experienced either job strain or effort-reward imbalance had a 49% higher risk of heart disease compared to those who did not report such stressors. Furthermore, men who experienced both job strain and effort-reward imbalance had twice the risk of heart disease compared to those who did not face these combined stressors.
However, the impact of psychosocial stress at work on women’s heart health was inconclusive and requires further study. “Job strain” refers to working environments where employees face high job demands with low control, while “effort-reward imbalance” occurs when employees perceive their rewards to be insufficient or unequal to the effort they put into their work.
The study followed nearly 6,500 workers without heart disease over an 18-year period, from 2000 to 2018. Job strain and effort-reward imbalance were measured through questionnaires, and heart disease information was obtained from established health databases.
The findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing stressors in the work environment could be particularly effective in protecting men from heart disease, and potentially benefit women as well. It is crucial to further investigate the complex interplay of various stressors in relation to women’s heart health.
Source: IANS
