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Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease

The role of psychosocial work stress as a risk factor for chronic disease has been the subject of considerable debate. Many researchers argue in support of a causal connection while others remain skeptical and have argued that the effect on specific health conditions is either negligible or confound...

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Autores principales: Kivimäki, Mika, Kawachi, Ichiro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4523692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26238744
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11886-015-0630-8
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author Kivimäki, Mika
Kawachi, Ichiro
author_facet Kivimäki, Mika
Kawachi, Ichiro
author_sort Kivimäki, Mika
collection PubMed
description The role of psychosocial work stress as a risk factor for chronic disease has been the subject of considerable debate. Many researchers argue in support of a causal connection while others remain skeptical and have argued that the effect on specific health conditions is either negligible or confounded. This review of evidence from over 600,000 men and women from 27 cohort studies in Europe, the USA and Japan suggests that work stressors, such as job strain and long working hours, are associated with a moderately elevated risk of incident coronary heart disease and stroke. The excess risk for exposed individuals is 10–40 % compared with those free of such stressors. Differences between men and women, younger versus older employees and workers from different socioeconomic backgrounds appear to be small, indicating that the association is robust. Meta-analyses of a wider range of health outcomes show additionally an association between work stress and type 2 diabetes, though not with common cancers or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, suggesting outcome specificity. Few studies have addressed whether mitigation of work stressors would reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. In view of the limited interventional evidence on benefits, harms and cost-effectiveness, definitive recommendations have not been made (e.g. by the US Preventive Services Taskforce) for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease via workplace stress reduction. Nevertheless, governments are already launching healthy workplace campaigns, and preventing excessive work stress is a legal obligation in several countries. Promoting awareness of the link between stress and health among both employers and workers is an important component of workplace health promotion.
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spelling pubmed-45236922015-08-06 Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease Kivimäki, Mika Kawachi, Ichiro Curr Cardiol Rep Psychological Aspects of Cardiovascular Diseases (A Steptoe, Section Editor) The role of psychosocial work stress as a risk factor for chronic disease has been the subject of considerable debate. Many researchers argue in support of a causal connection while others remain skeptical and have argued that the effect on specific health conditions is either negligible or confounded. This review of evidence from over 600,000 men and women from 27 cohort studies in Europe, the USA and Japan suggests that work stressors, such as job strain and long working hours, are associated with a moderately elevated risk of incident coronary heart disease and stroke. The excess risk for exposed individuals is 10–40 % compared with those free of such stressors. Differences between men and women, younger versus older employees and workers from different socioeconomic backgrounds appear to be small, indicating that the association is robust. Meta-analyses of a wider range of health outcomes show additionally an association between work stress and type 2 diabetes, though not with common cancers or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, suggesting outcome specificity. Few studies have addressed whether mitigation of work stressors would reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. In view of the limited interventional evidence on benefits, harms and cost-effectiveness, definitive recommendations have not been made (e.g. by the US Preventive Services Taskforce) for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease via workplace stress reduction. Nevertheless, governments are already launching healthy workplace campaigns, and preventing excessive work stress is a legal obligation in several countries. Promoting awareness of the link between stress and health among both employers and workers is an important component of workplace health promotion. Springer US 2015-08-04 2015 /pmc/articles/PMC4523692/ /pubmed/26238744 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11886-015-0630-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2015 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Psychological Aspects of Cardiovascular Diseases (A Steptoe, Section Editor)
Kivimäki, Mika
Kawachi, Ichiro
Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease
title Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease
title_full Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease
title_fullStr Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease
title_full_unstemmed Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease
title_short Work Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease
title_sort work stress as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease
topic Psychological Aspects of Cardiovascular Diseases (A Steptoe, Section Editor)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4523692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26238744
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11886-015-0630-8
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