Riskier jobs linked to heart diseases

New York: A new research has found wide variation in the cardiovascular risk depending on job profiles. If you are 45 or older and in sales or office-support job, you may be at a higher risk of heart disease and stroke than workers in management or professional jobs, the study reveals.

"The lower the number of ideal cardiovascular risk factors are, the easier it becomes to predict their future health problems, including premature death, heart disease, stroke and kidney disease," said lead researcher Captain Leslie MacDonald from National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

But, among the study's group of older workers, it was difficult to achieve ideal levels for all the risk factors. In fact, no one did, largely because of the difficulty in achieving an ideal diet, MacDonald added. The study involved 5,566 employed men and women, who did not have a history of heart disease or stroke.

Nearly 22 per cent of transportation/material moving workers were smokers, the highest smoking rate among the occupation groups included in the study. Management/professionals were the category of workers that had better cardiovascular health than the other categories.

More than 88 per cent of workers aged 45 or older and did not smoke and 78 per cent had ideal glucose levels. Less than 40 per cent of the workers had "ideal cardiovascular health" in five other measures. Work conditions such as long working hours and low job control have been linked to metabolic and behavioural risk factors, which may contribute to the group differences found in the study.