London, Sep 16 (IANS) Being bossed around in a stressful job raises chances of a heart attack by 25 percent, warn researchers.
They
said workers who feel over-pressured yet powerless are more at danger
than counterparts who suffer less stress. Their findings are based on
200,000 workers, including civil servants to factory workers.
"Our
findings indicate that job strain is associated with a small but
consistent increased risk of experiencing a first coronary heart disease
event, such as a heart attack," said Mika Kivimaki, professor at the
University College London (UCL), who led the study, medical journal The
Lancet reports.
Previous research has suggested stress at work
can trigger heart problems but there have been conflicting results. The
UCL investigation pooled results from 13 studies in Britain, Belgium,
Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden between 1985 and
2006.
All the men and women taking part completed questionnaires
about their jobs, workload, deadlines and freedom to make decisions.
None had suffered a heart attack before providing the details, according
to the Daily Mail.
Over an average follow-up period of 7.5
years, researchers recorded 2,356 cases of heart disease. These included
hospital admissions due to heart attacks and deaths from coronary
failure. Kivimaki said job stress may account for a "notable proportion"
of heart problems in the working population.
He said that stress
reduction would have a much smaller impact than tackling either lack of
exercise or smoking, which had a negative effect 10 times greater.