Main Category:
Hypertension News
Article Date: 29 Aug 2006 - 14:00pm (PDT)
|
email this article |
printer friendly |
view or write opinions |
If you work more than 51 hours each week you should
be aware that your chances of developing
hypertension are 29% higher, when compared to
someone who works up to 39 hours a week, according
to scientists from the University of California in
Irvine, USA.
(Hypertension = High blood pressure)
You can read about this study in the journal
Hypertension.
Americans work more hours per week than the Japanese
do. In Japan they have a term, Karoshi, which means
dying suddenly as a result of working too much.
In this study, researchers studied data on 24,305
Californian citizens who worked more than 11 hours
per week. They used data from the Public Use File of
the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. After
making adjustments for socioeconomic status and body
weight, the study found there was a strong link
between hypertension prevalence and more hours
worked - the more hours a person worked each week,
the higher his/her hypertension risk was.
When compared to people who work up to 39 hours per
week, a person working 40 hours had a 14% increased
risk of suffering from hypertension. The risk
increased in parallel with extra hours worked,
reaching 29% for a 51-hour-week.
They also found that challenging and mentally
stimulating jobs tended to protect people from
developing hypertension. Those with highest risks of
suffering from high blood pressure as a result o
doing many hours were clerical and unskilled
workers.
The USA is the only developed country which does not
have legal restrictions on the number of hours a
person can work each week.
Work Hours and Self-Reported Hypertension Among
Working People in California
Haiou Yang; Peter L. Schnall; Maritza Jauregui;
Ta-Chen Su; and Dean Baker
Hypertension 2006,
doi:10.1161/01.HYP.0000238327.41911.52
Click Here To View Abstract Online
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
