Association between occupational stress and electrocardiographic abnormalities in employees

Abstract

To investigate the influence of occupational stress on electrocardiographic features in employees. In September 2014, a total of 186 employees in a solar photovoltaic company underwent the evaluation of occupational stress, and the changes in electrocardiographic findings were recorded. The abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings showed significant differences between different age groups(P<0.05), and the employees older than 50 years had the highest abnormal rate(34.0%). Among the study subjects aged 41-50 years, those with a high score of job responsibility and burden had a higher abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings than those with a low score(24.3% vs 6.3%); among the study subjects older than 50 years, those with a high risk level had a higher abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings than those with a low risk level(50.0% vs 22.6%). Among the study subjects older than 50 years, those with a high score of mental health had a significantly lower abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings than those with a low score (8.3% vs 55.2%, P<0.05); the employees with high scores of physical complaint and daily stress had a higher abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings than those with low scores of physical complaint and daily stress (52.2% vs 20.0%, P<0.05; 50.0% vs 22.6%, P<0.05). The unconditional multivariate logistic stepwise regression analysis showed that old age was the risk factor for the high abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings (OR= 1.076, P=0.013), and that mental health was the protective factor for the abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings(OR=0.356, P=0.017). Occupational stress is the risk factor for abnormal electrocardiographic findings, and the abnormal rate of electrocardiographic findings tends to increase with the increasing severity of occupational stress.