High pressure work deadlines boost heart attack risk six-fold

A high pressure work deadline boosts the chances of a heart attack within the next 24 hours by a factor of six, reveals research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Short term, but intense, pressure seems to have a greater impact on the heart than accumulated stress over 12 months, suggests the research.

The researchers base their findings on over 3,500 people, most of whom were participants in the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Programme or SHEEP. This monitored 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.

The second part explored the impact of working life events within the previous week in more detail. And the third part analysed whether an accumulation of life events over the preceding 12 months affected heart attack risk.

The results showed that work stress featured heavily in the risk of a heart attack.

Men were 80% more likely to have a heart attack if they had experienced a conflict at work within the preceding 12 months. The risk increased further if they felt strongly affected by it. 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.

Te second part of the study showed that around 8% of the interviewees had experienced a life event associated with work the day before their heart attack. This was much higher than the proportion of people who had faced events unrelated to work.

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 suggest that this is probably associated with meeting a pressurised deadline.

After taking account of other known risk factors, no link was found between accumulated stressful life events in the preceding year and the risk of a heart attack.

Contacts:
Dr Jëtte Moller, Deaprtment of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: + 46 8 517 779 76
Email: [email protected]
or
Associate Professor Johan Hallqvist, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 517 779 81
Email: [email protected]