Job categories and acute ischemic heart disease: a hospital-based, case-control study in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
Most studies of the relationship between work and acute ischemic heart disease (IHD) were performed in western populations, and the extent to which their findings hold in Asian populations is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between job categories and non-fatal, first episodes of acute IHD in Taipei, Taiwan.


METHODS
A hospital-based, case-control design was used. Cases were patients with a first episode of non-fatal acute IHD who were admitted to the department of cardiology. Two controls without known cardiovascular disease were matched to each case for age, gender, and date of admission. A total of 119 cases and 238 controls were enrolled between April and September 2004.


RESULTS
Compared with white-collar workers, blue-collar workers had a 5.3-fold (95% CI: 1.5, 18.5) increased risk of a first episode of non-fatal acute IHD, while self-employed workers and managers/professionals had a slightly lower odds ratio of 0.6 (95% CI: 0.1, 2.4) and 0.5 (95% CI: 0.1, 2.2), respectively. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, and sleep disturbance were significant risk factors for acute IHD. A clustering of the cardiovascular risk factors was found in blue-collar workers.


CONCLUSIONS
Blue-collar workers had a 5.3-fold increased risk of a first event of non-fatal acute IHD compared with white-collar workers, and this increased risk was associated with a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors.
Chen
Jong-Dar
JD
Department of Family Medicine, Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Shin-Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. m006671@ms.skh.org.tw
Cheng
Tsun-Jen
TJ
Lin
Yu-Cheng
YC
Hsiao
Shu-Tin
ST
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013624:Taiwan