Work-related stress often leads to atherosclerosis – naturopathic portal and naturopathic specialists

Increased risk of peripheral arterial disease due to work stress.

People who suffer from work stress are more likely to be hospitalized for peripheral arterial diseases such as atherosclerosis than those without work stress. This emerges from a recent American study.

Researchers from the American Heart Association shed light on the complex relationships between psychosocial factors and cardiovascular health. Stress at work was shown to be associated with an increased risk of peripheral arterial disease. The study was recently published in a special issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association.

What is peripheral arterial disease?

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a cardiovascular disease that occurs when cholesterol or other fatty substances in the blood deposit in the blood vessels and restrict blood flow. This happens particularly often in the legs, so leg pain when walking can indicate such diseases. Bottlenecks in untreated blood vessels increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Peripheral arterial disease affects more than 200 million people worldwide. However, the risk factors are considered insufficiently understood.

Work-related stress leads to more admissions for PAD

Work-related stress and workload refer to psychological and social stress at work, which is often due to high expectations combined with a lower level of personal control. Previous studies have linked atherosclerotic disease to stress. The current study focused on the relationship between work stress and related hospital treatment for peripheral arterial disease.

Data from 139,000 participants evaluated

The research team evaluated data from 139,000 men and women. The data comes from eleven different studies that were carried out in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and England from 1985 to 2008. The average age of the participants at the start of the studies was between 39 and 49 years. All subjects had no history of peripheral arterial disease at the start of the study.

Individual risk factors such as age, sex, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, level of physical activity, presence of diabetes and socioeconomic position were taken into account in the study.

Almost 13 years of observation

During the average follow-up period of 12.8 years, a total of 667 people were treated for peripheral arterial disease in the hospital. After eliminating all known risk factors, the research team showed that 1.4 times more often people with work-related stress were hospitalized for such illnesses than people without stress.

Possible reasons for the connection

Stress is associated with increased inflammation and higher blood sugar levels. Although there is little evidence of a link between work-related stress and heart disease, stress could contribute to complications and exacerbations of peripheral arterial disease, the researchers suspect.

Study limitations.

The research team notes that only peripheral arterial disease treated in the hospital was recorded, meaning the results cannot be generalized to less severe forms of the disease. Certain health information, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, was also not available.

Good stress management is increasingly important

The harmful effects of stress are supported by more and more studies. Successful stress management appears to gain increasing relevance for maintaining health. You can find more information about stress management in the article “Stress Relief: Easing Stress Relief.” (vb)

Important note:
This article contains general information only and should not be used for self-diagnosis or treatment. It cannot replace a visit to the doctor.