Men who work demanding jobs for inadequate compensation are twice as likely to develop heart disease as those whose jobs are less strenuous and satisfying, research shows.
"The combined impact of hard work and effort-reward imbalance was similar to the impact of obesity on coronary heart disease risk," according to a team of Canadian doctors whose research was published by the American Heart Association.
Although the results for women were unclear, perhaps indicating greater resilience, men who endured "stressful work conditions" and who "felt they had put in a lot of effort but received little reward" faced twice the risk of heart disease compared to men without these psychosocial stressors, Net.hr reports.
"Our study highlights the urgent need to proactively address stressful work conditions to create healthier work environments that benefit employees and employers," said Mathilde Lavin-Robischot of the University Hospital of Quebec-Laval in Canada.
The scientists followed about 6.500 people from Quebec, who mostly worked in office jobs, from 2000 to 2018, but said the findings are relevant to similar societies, such as the United States, where heart disease claimed about 383.000 lives in 2020.
"Our results suggest that interventions to reduce work-related stress may be particularly effective for men and may have positive implications for women, as these stressors are associated with other widespread health problems such as depression," reports Net.hr.
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