Investigating the effect of the type of a person’s occupation on the likelihood of having a non-fatal acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or ischemic stroke, Demosthenes Panagiotakos, from Harokopio University (Greece), and colleagues studied a total of 1,000 subjects – 250 were consecutive patients with a first ACS, 250 were consecutive patients with a first ischemic stroke and 500 population-based, control subjects, one-for-one matched to the patients by age and sex. When assessed on a 9-unit scale (1 = physically demanding work and 9 = sedentary/mental work) the analysis showed that those suffering the stroke and coronary events were more commonly engaged in physically demanding occupation than the controls. After adjusting for confounding factors, the results confirmed that those occupied in progressively less physically demanding jobs (that is, for each unit increase of the scale) were associated with a 20% lower likelihood of acute coronary events (a statistically significant odds ratio of 0.81%) or of ischaemic stroke (odds ratio 0.83%). Concluding that: “Subjects with physically demanding, manual labor should be a primary prevention target group against [acute coronary syndrome] or stroke, due to their higher likelihood of suffering from a [cardiovascular disease] event,” the study authors urge that individuals with physically demanding manual jobs should be considered a primary target group for prevention of cardiovascular disease because of their higher risk.
Laborious Work Linked to Cardiovascular Disease
E Georgousopoulou, CM Kastorini, HJ Milionis, E Trichia, D Kantas, MS Kostapanos, V Nikolaou, KN Vemmos, JA Goudevenos, D B Panagiotakos. “Physically demanding occupation is associated with higher likelihood of a non-fatal acute coronary syndrome or ischemic stroke: a case/case-control study” [Abstract P67]. Presented at EuroPRevent (European Society of Cardiology) 2013, 18 Apr. 2013.
