Heart Attack: Stress at work can cause it, and again

11 October 2007

Are you in a job where you have a large workload, and no decision-making powers? Then you’re more likely to suffer a heart attack, researchers believe.

And if you survive that and return to the same job, you’re far more likely to suffer a second attack than someone who finds a less stressful position.

Researchers followed the progress of 1,000 people who suffered a heart attack. In six years, more than 200 of them suffered a second attack, and that was twice as likely to happen if they were in a stressful job.

The researchers, from Laval University in Quebec, define a stressful job as one with a heavy workload and with few, if any, powers of decision-making.

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007; 298: 1652-60).

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Heart Attack: Stress at work can cause it, and again

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