title: Job stress and carotid intima-media thickness in Chinese workers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) can be used as a surrogate marker for cardiovascular health, and job stress is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, there have been a limited number of studies focusing on the association between job stress and CIMT. The goal of this study was to explore the association between job stress and CIMT in a Chinese working population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 734 participants (508 males and 226 females) without coronary heart disease. Job stress was evaluated using the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) questionnaire at work. ERI is the ratio between efforts and rewards (weighted by number of items). High resolution carotid ultrasonographic studies were performed using a Sequoia 512 ultrasound system with an 8-13 MHz linear array transducer to assess CIMT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study detected gender-specific associations between the indictors of the ERI model and increased CIMT among the study participants in China. This study demonstrated a robust association in women between the key indicators of ERI, effort, overcommitment and ERI, and increased CIMT (adjusted r(2)=0.258, p=0.001; adjusted r(2)=0.261; p<0.001; adjusted r(2)=0.274; p<0.001, respectively). Reward was inversely correlated with CIMT (adjusted r(2)=0.282, p<0.001), controlling for age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia and body mass index. For men, a similar pattern of associations was observed, but the associations were lost after adjustment for confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that effort, overcommitment and ERI may be associated with early atherosclerosis predicted by CIMT in women, and reward is inversely related to CIMT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Peking University Third Hospital and Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Science, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Weixian
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hang
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Wenshuang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Yuanfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Yiming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D015415:Biomarkers; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D014463:Ultrasonography; D016526:Workload
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers