Job stress and cardiovascular risk factors in male workers.
BACKGROUND
This study examined whether job stress (work demand and decision latitude) is associated with smoking, blood pressure, lipid level (total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol), and homocystein as risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Korean male workers.


METHODS
Study subjects of this study were recruited from a sample of 1,071 workers in 20 companies of W city and H counties, and they were grouped into four categories (high strain group, active group, passive group, and low strain group) based on the postulation of Karasek's Job Strain Model. Of them, we invited 160 male workers (40 people each subgroup) using a stratified sampling, and finally, 152 eligible participants were analyzed.


RESULTS
In multivariate analyses, we found that decision latitude was associated with cholesterol, triglyceride, and homocystein and that work demand was related to smoking and systolic blood pressure. Job strain (the combination of high work demand with low decision latitude) was significantly related to higher levels of homocystein after controlling for age, BMI, smoking, and social support at workplace.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that job stress is associated with cardiovascular risk factors and might contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease. Some considerations for the future research were discussed.
Kang
Myung Gun
MG
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju, South Korea.
Koh
Sang Baek
SB
Cha
Bong Suk
BS
Park
Jong Ku
JK
Baik
Soon Koo
SK
Chang
Sei Jin
SJ
D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D016526:Workload
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D014280:Triglycerides; D006710:Homocysteine; D002784:Cholesterol