Stress-at-work risk for women under 50

High pressure in workplace raises risk of heart disease for women

Danish research in Occupational and Environmental Medicine came to the conclusion that work pressure has a greater effect on young women than those in their 50s and 60s. A study of more than 12,000 nurses aged between 45 and 64 was conducted, where researchers asked them about pressure at work and tracked their health for 15 years up to 2008. By this time, 580 nurses had been admitted to hospital with ischaemic heart disease, including 369 cases of angina and 138 heart attacks.

Researchers found that participants who described pressure at work as ‘much too high’ were 35% more likely to have developed heart disease than those who were comfortable with the pressure, even after taking into account risk factors for heart disease such as smoking and diabetes. When the results were broken down by age, however, the researchers found that it was only the women aged 50 and under who were affected significantly by pressure.

Source: BBC News, 6 May 2010.

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