HumbleLand
Otter Creek, Lake Cumberland Kentucky
Long Work Days
Linked to High Blood Pressure
Risk is higher
for those with little job control, study suggests
By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News)
-- Long hours on the job may lead to a greater risk of high blood
pressure,
particularly for people who don't have much control over their work, a new study found.
"Other studies have focused on job stress, we focused on long work
hours," said Dr. Dean Baker, director of the University of
California, Irvine's Center for Occupational and Environmental
Health, and lead author of the report in the September issue of
Hypertension.
Baker said that focus was possible because the study relied on a
mass of data from a 2001 survey of more than 55,000
After accounting for many other causes of high blood pressure, the
researchers said they found a significant association between
working more hours and self-reported high blood pressure.
For example, people who worked 40 hours a week were 14 percent more
likely to say they had high blood pressure than those working 11 to
19 hours weekly. For those working 41 to 50 hours a week, the
incidence was 17 percent higher.
"We found the type of occupation was independently significant,"
Baker added. "Clerical workers and unskilled workers had more high
blood pressure than those in the professions."
Clerical workers were 23 percent more likely to report high blood
pressure than professionals, as were 50 percent of unskilled
workers.
High blood pressure can lead to a variety of potentially deadly
health problems, including heart attack and stroke.
The findings should be taken into account by the people in charge of
work hours, Baker said. "We would like employers to understand the
health effects of requiring people to work long hours," he said.
Doctors should also pay attention, Baker said. There's a standard
list of risk factors for high blood pressure, including obesity,
smoking, physical inactivity and diabetes. "Something I would change
is to add long work hours to the list," he said.
But Dr. David Meyerson, a senior cardiologist at Johns Hopkins
University and a spokesman for the American Heart Association, said,
"We need more information before this finding can be translated into
legislation limiting work hours."
"The implication now that Americans seem to be working more hours
than their European or Asian counterparts has become an issue,"
Meyerson said.
But because workers with little control over their jobs report more
problems, "if one reads between the lines, the key may be whether
job satisfaction plays a role," he said.
Meyerson offered this advice to control high blood pressure: "Get
plenty of exercise, eat properly, know what your blood pressure is."
At the same time, he added, "If at all possible, find a job that
offers satisfaction. And if possible, spend more time with the
persons you love, rather than at work."
More information
The risks of high blood pressure and what should be done about them
are described by the
American Heart Association.
SOURCES: Dean
Baker, M.D., director, Center for Occupational and Environmental
Health, University of California, Irvine; David Meyerson, M.D,
senior cardiologist, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Aug. 29,
2006, Hypertension