Study of association between job stress and cardiovascular disease risk factors among urmia petrochemical company personell

Stress at work is an increasing common feature of modern life. Job stress has adverse health
effects on cardiovascular system. This study was the first one which has used effort- reward imbalance
model (ERI) to measure job stress in an Iranian group of workers to assess adverse effects of job stress on
cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of this study was to examine relationship between job stress and cardiovascular
risk factors including high blood pressure, overweight, smoking, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia,
high level of triglyceride and low density lipoprotein and low level of high density lipoprotein.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 109 randomly selected employees of
Urmia petrochemical company. A self-administrated questionnaire included demographic characteristics,
smoking status, work stress, and negative affectivity was used to collect data. Blood sample was
also taken in order to determine biological risk factors. Multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate
the effect of job stress on cardiovascular risk factors.
Findings: Overall prevalence of ERI and high overcommitement were 54.1% and 26.6% respectively.
There was a significant relationship between ERI and age (P = 0.05), number of children (P < 0.024)
and education level (P = 0.005). According to ERI index, workers with stress have shown an excess
risk of 43% for hypertension, 14% for being smoker, 55% for diabetes, 106% for high triglyceride,
21% for high cholesterol, 41% for low density lipoprotein, and 191% for low level of high density
lipoprotein. Exploring other components of job stress, i.e. overcommitement and considering low level
of overcommitement as a reference category, there was an increasing risk in high blood pressure,
overweight, diabetes, high triglyceride and low density lipoprotein.
Conclusion: This study showed an increase in cardiovascular risk factors by increasing in job stress.
However, these evidences were not statistically significant. It is recommended to use prospective
cohort studies to examine effects of job stress on cardiovascular system