Study: Higher Work Stress Linked with Elevated Mortality Risk

A multicohort study recently published in The Lancet provides evidence that men with cardiometabolic disease may be at higher risk of death due to job strain. Data from seven studies conducted between 1985 and 2002 in Finland, Sweden, and the UK were used to analyze the relationship between work stress and mortality.  Mortality data, socioeconomic status, work stressors, and lifestyle and conventional risk factors were all assessed. Of the 102,633 individuals evaluated, 3,441 had cardiometabolic disease, and 3,841 died by follow-up (mean follow-up: 13.9 years).  

Mortality rates in men with cardiometabolic disease were significantly higher in those with job strain (149.8 per 10,000 person-years) than those without (97.7 per 10,000 person-years; mortality difference 52.1 per 10,000 person-years; HR=1.68, 95% CI 1.19–2.35). The mortality difference observed for job strain was almost as great as that associated with current vs. former smoking status (78.1 per 10 000 person-years), and was greater than those due to hypertension, elevated cholesterol, obesity, physical inactivity, and high alcohol consumption. In patients with no cardiometabolic disease, the association between work stress and mortality was not significant. 

Source: The Lancet