Work stress and coronary heart disease.
BACKGROUND
Coronary heart disease (CHD) has been often regarded as a psychosomatic illness; one of the psychosocial variables influencing the onset or course of disease is stress. Work stress in particular may therefore be a significant factor influencing CHD.


METHODS
This descriptive review derives from those predictive studies of work stress and CHD published from 1990-2000 based on structured literature searches.


RESULTS
There is reasonably robust and consistent empirical evidence indicating some causal relationship between work stress and CHD risk.


CONCLUSIONS
Work stress has clear implications for the health and welfare of employees and medico legal implications for employers.
Tennant
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Department of Psychological Medicine, Sydney University, St Leonards, NSW, Australia. tennant@med.usyd.edu.au
D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D014937:Work