Unstable Workplace Might Increase Employee Risk for Heart Attack
October 23, 2008By Sharyn Alden, Contributing Writer
Health Behavior News Service
Predictable workplaces are healthy workplaces, a new study suggests. When
employees feel ambiguous about their role in the organization and there is a
lack of clear-cut communication, they might be at higher risk for heart attacks
over time.
The 18-year study from Finland examined the possible link between job control
factors and heart attacks — acute myocardial infarction — among 7,663
private sector employees.
“The risk of MI was about 1.8 times higher in a disorganized setting than in
an organized setting,” said Ari Vaananen, lead study author. “Clear
organization of work tasks matters.”
Vaananen is with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki. The
study appears in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
For 30-plus years, adults spend about one-third of their waking hours at work.
Unfortunately, many people work in environments where unpredictable job
components are the norm.
Although it has long been known that risk factors such as smoking and a lack of
exercise can lead to poor cardiac health, the new study finds that
characteristics of a job, such as an employee’s lack of control, job
awareness, unexpected changes, job strain and stress, could also lead to poor
cardiac health.
“We looked at the measure of predictability, how an employee views the clarity
of work goals and work roles, their ability to foresee work problems and how
significant work disturbances interrupt the work process and outcome.”
Vaananen said.
The researchers sent questionnaires to 12,173 employees in the multinational
forest industry who had worked for their company for at least 24 months and who
were initially free of heart disease. In all, 9,292 employees, primarily
blue-collar workers, responded.
The researchers looked at demographics, psychological distress, medical
conditions and lifestyle risk factors. During the 17-year follow-up period, 56
employees died of acute myocardial infarction and 316 had nonfatal events.
Joan Gillman is the director of special industry programs at the School of
Business at University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Not knowing what is expected in
the workplace is stressful,” Gillman said. “In my adult classes, when asked,
most supervisors don’t really know what is expected or what they are being
judged on.”
Educating the work force is important to improved predictability, Gillman said.
“The more that employees know what is expected of them and are given the
proper training, the less stressful it is for them.”
What can employees do to change their predisposition to acute myocardial
infarctions? Vaananen said, “Employees may want to acquire new skills through
education. They also may want to learn how the entire system works in the
organization. Good knowledge of the organization and of their own clear roles at
work may decrease negative emotions and chronic stress, and lower their risk for
acute myocardial infarction.”
“Employees who follow these recommendations will improve their subjective
health and lower their risks of physical impairment,” said John Mirowsky, a
professor with the Sociology Department and Population Research Center at the
University of Texas, in Austin. “It is a winning formula all around.”
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: Lisa Esposito at (202) 387-2829 or hbns-editor@cfah.org
The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly journal of the
American Public Health Association. Visit www.apha.org
for more information. Complimentary online access to the journal is available to
credentialed members of the media. Contact Patricia Warin at APHA, (202)
777-2511 patricia.warin@apha.org
Vaananen A, et al. Effects predictability at work and risk of acute myocardial
infarction: an 18-year prospective study of industrial employees. Am J Public
Health 98(12) 2008.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Center for the Advancement of
Health
Health Behavior News Service
Contact: Lisa Esposito, Editor
202.387.2829
hbns-editor@cfah.org