Job Stressors among Female Physicians: Relation to Having a Clinical Diagnosis of Hypertension

Abstract

Thirty-five female physicians with, and 74 without clinically-diagnosed hypertension completed the physician-specific Occupational Stress Index (OSI) questionnaire in Novi Sad. Adjusting for covariates including BMI, an OSI high-demand score above the mean yielded an odds ratio (OR) of 3.14 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.05-9.43) for hypertension. Among those with BMI > 26, long workhours and hazardous task performance yielded significantly elevated adjusted OR's for hypertension. Overweight physicians without diagnosed hypertension were more often smokers. The strongest multivariate model for the favorable risk profile (FRP) was: non-smoker without diagnosed-hypertension, having a hobby and lower BMI, with total threat avoidant vigilance score below the mean showing the most significant OR (0.30, 95% CI, 0.12-0.78). Disturbances from other people and listening to emotionally disturbing occurrences also showed significant inverse multivariate associations with FRP. Diminishing work stressor burden should be part of hypertension and other disease prevention strategies for female physicians.