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Stress at work is a killer
Calm down, it's only a job...

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Wednesday 23 January 2008

Stress at work could be more of a pain than you think. New research shows strong evidence of a direct biological link between workplace worry and coronary heart disease.

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The research, which was carried out by scientists at University College London (UCL) and is part of a long-running study following 10,308 London-based civil servants, has found evidence that workplace stress directly affects the biological mechanisms underlying coronary heart disease (CHD), rather than by simply encouraging unhealthy, heart-disease inducing habits in stress sufferers.

Dr Tarani Chandola, a senior lecturer in UCL's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and one of the authors of the study, said for the first time the research sheds light on the mechanisms underlying the association between stress and heart disease, which "have remained unclear until now".

He said in a statement: "During 12 years of follow-up, we found that chronic work stress was associated with CHD and this association was stronger among both men and women aged under 50 - their risk of CHD was an average of 68 per cent more than for people who reported no stress at work."

Chandola added the association is less pronounced among people of retirement age who are therefore less likely to be exposed to work stress.

Workers suffering from stress had higher than normal levels of cortisol - the so-called 'stress' hormone. The scientists also found evidence that stress disturbs the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, part of the body's neuroendocrine system. Such disruptions to the nervous system can affect the signals being sent to the heart and could thus lead to cardiac instability, according to Chandola.

But the biological impact of a hair-tearing workplace is not the only negative effect of stress. The study also found stressed workers are more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviour that can lead indirectly to heart disease, such as having a poor diet or taking less exercise. This accounted for around 32 per cent of the effect of work stress on CHD, said Chandola.

A recent survey by the Policy Studies Institute found 'Big Brother'-style electronic surveillance systems can fuel stress at work. Job-related stress can also increase employee churn: 10 per cent of respondents to a silicon.com reader poll who are looking to change jobs this year said their aim is to reduce workplace stress.