Abstract
General psychosocial stress and job strain have been related to blood pressure (BP) with conflicting results. This study sought to explore the contribution of several lifestyle factors in the relation between general psychosocial stress, job strain and BP. This cross-sectional study investigated the association of general stress and job strain with systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP in a sample of 9441 employed individuals from the EpiHealth cohort. General stress was measured by the Perceived Stress Scale. Job strain was assessed with the Job Content Questionnaire, assessing two dimensions of job strain: psychological job demand and decision latitude. Linear regression and sensitivity analysis were performed. At the uncorrected model, general stress, job demand and decision latitude were all inversely associated with SBP. After further adjustment for lifestyle and health parameters, only general stress was associated with SPB (β coefficient: -0.103; 95% confidence interval -0.182 to 0.023). General stress is associated with lower SBP independently of lifestyle in middle-aged adults. Our findings point towards a major contribution for job-unrelated stressors in determining SBP and support the pivotal role of lifestyle behaviours and health status in modulating the effect of stress on BP, calling for a careful selection of confounders.
Highlights
Psychological stress has long been known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [1,2] due to its neuroendocrine hypertensive effects [1]
We investigated the association of systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) with general stress and job strain, as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) [18] and the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) [19], respectively, using data from the EpiHealth cohort
We investigated the association between general stress and job strain on SBP and DBP in a sample of 9441 employed individuals
Summary
Psychological stress has long been known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [1,2] due to its neuroendocrine hypertensive effects [1]. Hypertension is considered as one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) [3]. The relationship between chronic psychological stress and CVD is remarkably complex due to its intertwining with other lifestyle risk factors such as high body mass index (BMI) [4], smoking and lower physical activity [5]. Work-related stress has been reported to be a major contributor to high blood pressure (BP) [1,2], though findings regarding the association of job strain with BP and CVD are still conflicting [6]. Lifestyle and job strain, as measured by the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), were found to be
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