Workplace stress could increase atrial fibrillation risk
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Key takeaways:
- Workplace psychosocial stressors may increase risk for atrial fibrillation.
- Experiencing both job strain and effort-reward imbalance was linked to a twofold increase in AF risk.
Job strain and effort-reward imbalance in the workplace may put white-collar workers at increased risk for experiencing a heart arrhythmia, researchers reported.
A long-term analysis of workplace psychosocial stressors and risk for incident atrial fibrillation was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Our study suggests that work-related stressors may be relevant factors to include in preventive strategies,” Xavier Trudel, PhD, occupational and cardiovascular epidemiologist and associate professor at Laval University in Quebec City, said in a press release. “Recognizing and addressing psychosocial stressors at work are required to foster healthy work environments that benefit both individuals and the organizations where they work.”
To better understand the link between workplace psychosocial stressors on AF incidence, Trudel and colleagues conducted a prospective analysis of 5,926 white-collar participants in the Prospective Quebec Study on Work and Health study.
Workers free from CVD at baseline were recruited from 19 public and semipublic organizations and followed up for an average of 18 years.
Workplace psychosocial stress was defined as job strain and effort-reward imbalance. Job strain was measured using the 18-item Karasek Job Content Questionnaire and effort-reward imbalance was identified in participants’ responses to questions from subscales of esteem subscale, promotion prospects and salary and job security.
AF events were identified using databases within the universal health care coverage system of Quebec and included AF hospitalizations, emergency visits and outpatient consultations.
The average age of participants was 45 years at baseline and 64 years at end of follow-up. A little more than half of participants were women.
After controlling for socioeconomic, lifestyle and clinical risk factors, the researchers reported that white-collar workers exposed to job strain (HR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.14-2.92) and effort-reward imbalance (HR = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.05-1.98) had significantly greater risk for incident AF compared with those not exposed.
Moreover, combined exposure to both job strain and effort-reward imbalance was associated with a nearly twofold greater risk for incident AF compared with those unexposed to either (HR = 1.97; 95% CI, 1.26-3.07).
“The effectiveness of workplace interventions to reduce psychosocial stressors that may also reduce the risk of AFib should be investigated in future research efforts,” Trudel said in the release. “Our research team previously conducted an organizational intervention designed to reduce psychosocial stressors at work, which was shown to effectively reduce blood pressure levels. Examples of organizational changes implemented during the intervention included slowing down the implementation of a large project to prevent increased workload; implementing flexible work hours; and holding meetings between managers and employees to discuss day-to-day challenges.”
Reference:
- Work-related stress may increase the risk of an irregular heart rhythm. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/work-related-stress-may-increase-the-risk-of-an-irregular-heart-rhythm. Published Aug. 14, 2024. Accessed Aug. 14, 2024.
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