Stress and unhealthy lifestyle increase risk of heart disease

People with job stress and an unhealthy lifestyle are at higher risk of coronary artery disease than people who have job stress but lead healthy lifestyles, according to work published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) by researchers from UCL's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. To determine whether a healthy lifestyle can help reduce the effects of job stress on coronary artery disease the researchers looked at seven cohort studies from a large European initiative that included 102,128 people who were disease-free during the 15-year study period (1985-2000). Participants, ranging in age from 17-70 (mean 44.3) years came from the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Sweden and Finland. More than half (52%) were women. Of the total participants, 15,986 (16%) reported job stress, which was determined from specific job-related questions in the studies. The investigators defined three lifestyle categories based on smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity/inactivity and obesity (body mass index). The risk of coronary artery disease was highest among participants who reported job strain and an unhealthy lifestyle.