Job demands, decisional control, and cardiovascular responses. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 1998
Melamed S, Kristal-Boneh E, Harari G, Froom P, Ribak J. Variation in the ambulatory blood pressure response to daily work loadthe moderating role of job control. Scand J Work Environ Health 1998;24(2):190-196. Objectives This quasi-experimental study tested the ambulatory blood pressure responsivity to daily variation in the work load of the same workers and examined whether this responsivity is moderated by perceived job control. Methods The subjects were 79 nonshift, normotensive men who reported nearly almost equal occurrences of low and high work load in a typical workday. Job control was assessed by questionnaire. The workers recorded their situational work load and other parameters at each recording of ambulatory blood pressure. Results An analysis of covariance showed the main effects of both situational work load and job control on systolic ambulatory blood pressure, as well as a significant work load by job conhol interaction, even after control for clinic blood pressure, age, and body mass index. A blood pressure response to increased work load was observed only for workers with low job control. These workers also had a higher average systolic ambulatory blood pressure than workers reporting high control. The difference was 6.2 rnm Hg (0.82 Wa) during the low workload periods and 10.2 rnrn Hg (1.36 Wa) during the high workload periods. A further multiple regression analysis confirmed the interaction and the main effect of job control but not that of work load, after control for work-related activities, body position, and hour of examination. C O~C~U S~O~S This study showed that ambulatory blood pressure at work can fluctuate with variations in work load but only for workers with low job control. Low job control is independently associated with higher systolic ambulatory blood pressure.
Job control and ambulatory blood pressure
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 2014
Job control and ambulatory blood pressure by Mc Carthy VJC, Perry IJ, Greiner BA Older workers with high job control may be more at risk of cardiovascular disease resulting from high blood pressure with little evidence of sufficient nocturnal systolic blood pressure dipping. High socioeconomic status may not necessarily result in better cardiac health for older workers. Policy-makers need to be aware of the risks posed to older workers.
Job strain and ambulatory blood pressure profiles
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 1991
Occupat ional characteristics were used to study the role of job stress in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Ambulatory 24-h recordings of blood pressure were made for 161 men with borderline hypertension. From the occupational classificat ion system scores for psychological demands , control, support, physical demands , and occupational hazards were obtained. The results indicated that the ratio between psychologi cal demands and control (strain) was significantly associated with diastolic (but not systolic) blood pr essure at night and during work. The association between job strain and diastolic blood pressure at night and during work was greatly strengthened when the subjects with occupat ions classified as physically demanding were excluded from the analysis. The conclusion was reached that a measure of job strain derived from the occupational classification is useful in predicting variations in diastolic blood pressure levels dur ing sleep and work for men with borderline hypertension. Key terms: blood pressure levels, borderline hypertens ion , continuous blood pressure monitoring, psychological job strain.
Association between ambulatory blood pressure and alternative formulations of job strain
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 1994
OBJECfIVES-The goal of the study was to determine whether alternative formulations of Karasek & Theorell' s job-strain construct are associated with ambulatory blood pressure and the risk of hypertension. M~;THODS-Full-time male employees (N = 262) in eight worksites completed a casual blood pressure screening, medical examinations, and questionnaires and wore an ambulatory blood pressure monitor for 24 h on a workday. Cases of hypertension were ascertained from casual blood pressure readings for a case-referent analysis. A cross-sectional analysis was also conducted, ambulatory (continuous) blood pressure measurements being used as the outcome. RESULTS-All formulations of job strain exhibited significant associations with systolic blood pressure at work and home, but not with diastolic blood pressure. Employees experiencing job strain had a systolic blood pressure that was 6.7 mm Hg (~0. 8 9 kPa) higher and a diastolic blood pressure that was 2.7 mm Hg (~0.3 6 kPa) higher at work than other employees, and the odds of hypertension were increased [odds ratio (OR) 2.9, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.3-6.6]. Using national means for decision latitude and demands to define job strain increased the systolic and diastolic blood pressure associations to 11.5 mm Hg (~1.5 3 kPa) and 4.1 mm Hg (~0. 54 kPa), respectively. Adding organizational influence to the task-level decision latitude variable produced a stronger association for hypertension with job strain (OR 3.7,95% CI 1.6-8.5). Adding social support to the job-strain model also slightly increased the hypertension risk. CONCLUSIONS-The impact of job strain, at least on systolic blood pressure, is consistent and robust across alternative formulations, more restrictive cut points tending to produce stronger effects. KEY TERMS-hypertension, job strain, occupation, social support, stress. One of the most influential model s of the health effe ct s of work-related stress is Karasek & Theorell's "job strain" model. According to the model, the greates t ris k of illness due to stress occurs to workers facin g job str ain, defined as a co mbinatio n of high work-load demands and low job-decision latitude or lo w j ob contro l. Over 30 studies have been published on the as sociation between job strain and cardiovascular dise ase (CVO) or CVO risk factors (I, 2). Mo st ha ve found a pos itive association between job strain and outcome. Of six cohort studies of CVO (3-8) and two cohort studies of all-cause mortality (9, 10), seven found significant po siti ve associations (3-7, 9,10).
International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health, 2010
To test the usefulness of the Demand-Control Model as predictor for ischemic heart disease (IHD). One thousand one hundred forty six actively employed men and women from the general population of Copenhagen participated at baseline in 1993-1994. They filled in questionnaires on the Demand-Control Model, job title, work place, civil status, family income, leisure time activity, smoking, medication, social support, social relations, conflicts, job responsibility, satisfaction, and insecurity and went through a medical examination, including measurements of coronary risk factors. All deaths and hospital admissions due to IHD, including first myocardial infarction (MI) in the cohort were traced in the Danish registries of deaths and hospital admissions to June 2007. 104 cases of first time hospitalisation or death due to IHD including 49 cases of MI occurred during 14 years follow up. Odds ratio (OR) compared to the relaxed group was 1.1 (0.1-3.1) among women and 1.6 (0.4-4.9) among men...
Psychosomatic medicine, 2016
The objectives of this study were to determine whether job strain is more strongly associated with higher ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) among blue-collar workers compared with white-collar workers, to examine whether this pattern generalizes across working and nonworking days and across sex, and to examine whether this pattern is accounted for by psychosocial factors or health behaviors during daily life. A total of 480 healthy workers (mean age = 43 years, 53% female) in the Adult Health and Behavior Project-Phase 2 completed ABP monitoring during 3 working days and 1 nonworking day. Job strain was operationalized as high psychological demand (> sample median) combined with low decision latitude (<sample median; Karasek model; Job Content Questionnaire). Covariate-adjusted multilevel random coefficient regressions demonstrated that associations between job strain and systolic and diastolic ABP were stronger among blue-collar workers compared with white-collar workers (b = 6...