High voltage work may increase the risk of heart attack for women
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News
Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
July 18, 2012-women with jobs high voltages at high risk of heart attacks and other heart problems, compared to those with lower stress jobs, according to a new study.
"Women have a high job strain, 40% more likely to have cardiovascular events, compared with women who were in the category of low voltage," said researcher Michael a. Albert, MD, MPH, Brigham and women's Hospital cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
High voltage is defined as the high demand and low control, "she said. An example is the work of the factory in which a worker is the pressure to produce.
Then find a surprise. Women in what she calls '' active strain '' jobs--is very demanding, but with high control--the same increased risk in high stress, low control positions.
Insecurity of employment, are not associated with risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems, Albert also found.
A study Published in PLoS ONE.
The researchers followed more than 22000 participants in the long-running health study. The average age of women was 57.
The women were divided into four groups working strain. Deformation work takes into account the requirements and control that has worked. These groups are:
Low voltage: low demand, high controlPassive: with low demand, low controlActive: with high demand, high controlHigh voltage: with high demand, low controlThe researchers followed the women for 10 years, wants to see who was one of four types of events. They found:
170 attacks163 heart strokes440 heart procedures such stents, bypass surgery, or angioplasty52 deaths from cardiovascular diseaseThe researchers took into account other factors that can affect heart health, age, race, education and income.
Even then, they found almost 40% increase in risk of any of the four results in women's groups active or high voltage.
When they just watched nonfatal heart attack, they found that the women in the Group of 67% high voltage higher than those in the low-voltage have one.
Also, they looked at depression and anxiety. These factors explain only about 20% of relationships, Albert tells WebMD. More research is needed to further explain the relationship, "she said.
The instability in the employment sphere, does not appear to increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, "she said.
New findings differ from some previous studies, said Mika Kivimaki, PhD, Professor of social epidemiology, University College of London. He reviewed the results.
He has published reports on the stress and cardiovascular disease. Researchers at University College London have long study Whitehall, also known as stress health research &, after more than 10000 British men and women.
It was previously thought that high job demands increase the risk of heart disease, only if the employee is additionally has a bad decision authority at work, "says Kivimaki.
"It is a study of United States women is important because it suggests that this may not be the case. Increased risk of cardiovascular disease was also seen among women who need jobs, combined with high performance management. "
However, he said that the researchers simply the relationship between work stress and heart health, but cannot prove cause and effect.
It's hard to take into account all of the risk factors that can play, said Peter Schnall, MD, MPH, Professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, Irvine.
He is also the Director of the Center for occupational and environmental health programme in the Organization of work and cardiovascular diseases.
"Field studies of stress but now focuses on work strain, but in the last 10 years were registered dozens of work-related risk factors," he tells WebMD.
Among the most dangerous heart factors? Working long hours, low wages and in the face of the threat of harm, he said. For example, a bus driver.
Women with high stress jobs should give extra attention to the way of life, "said Albert. A woman may focus on personal time, doing yoga and meditation or even pray.
Most important? «Find the thing that works for you, to reduce stress, "she says.
Sources: Slopen, PLoS one, July 2012 year. Michelle a. Albert, MD, mph, cardiologist, Brigham and women's Hospital and associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School. Mika Kivimaki, PhD, Professor of social epidemiology, University College of London. Peter Schnall, MD, MPH, a Professor of clinical medicine, University of California, Irvine; Director, Center for occupational and environmental health programme in the Organization of work and cardiovascular disease, University of California Irvine.© 2012 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Source: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, press release, July 23, 2012 
, 
, Jan Ulfbergb, Klaus Bergerc, Imad Ghorayebd, Jan Wesströme, Stephany Fuldaf, Richard P. Alleng, Thomas Pollmächerf, ha Sleep and Epilepsy Center, Neurocenter (EOC) of Southern Switzerland, Civic Hospital, Lugano, Via Tesserete 46, 6900 Lugano, Switzerlandb Department of Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Swedenc Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germanyd Clinical Neurophysiology Department, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire de Bordeaux, Bordeaux cedex, Francee Center for Clinical Research Dalarna, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Swedenf Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germanyg Center of Mental Health, Klinikum Ingolstadt, Ingolstadt, Germanyh Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USAReceived 13 May 2011. Revised 30 August 2011. Accepted 30 August 2011. Available online 9 November 2011.View full text Sleep is an essential human behavior that shows prominent gender differences. Disturbed sleep, in particular, is much more prevalent in females than males. Restless legs syndrome (RLS) as one cause of disturbed sleep was observed to be somewhat more common among women than men in Ekbom's 1945 seminal series of clinical cases with the disease. He, however, reported this gender difference mainly for those with more severe symptoms. Since then numerous studies have reported that women are affected by RLS about twice as often as males for mild as well as moderate to severe RLS. The present review focuses on RLS in females from the perspectives of both epidemiology and pathophysiology. RLS will generally become worse or might appear for the first time during pregnancy. Parity increases the risk of RLS later in life suggesting that pregnancy is a specific behavioral risk factor for developing RLS. Some evidence suggests that dysfunction in iron metabolism and high estrogen levels might contribute to RLS during pregnancy. But, menopause does not lower the incidence of RLS nor does hormone replacement therapy lead to an increase, suggesting a quite complex uncertain role of hormones in the pathophysiology of RLS. Therefore, further, preferably longitudinal studies are needed to unravel the factors causing RLS in women. These studies should include genetic, clinical and polysomnographic variables, as well as hormonal measures and variables assessing iron metabolism.prs.rt("abs_end");Restless legs syndrome; Gender; Female; Sleep; Insomnia; Pregnancy; Estrogens; Menopause; Quality of life
View Within ArticleTable 2. Epidemiological studies published in literature on RLS prevalence that included an assessment on the quality of life.
