In modern society, stress from work may be the most important source of psychological strain, but perceived stress of certain jobs may be different in different countries, due to the effect of different social culture, Xu said.
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People who have high-stress jobs may have an increased risk of stroke, according to a new analysis of previous research. They identified six studies involving a total of 138,782 participants who ranged in age from 18 to 75 and were followed for three to 17 years.
Job factors included time pressure, mental demands and coordination burdens.
The study was simplified by categories depending on how depending the work is and how much control the workers have over their job description. Stressed people increase their risk of having a stroke by smoking, skipping gym, eating fast food and making other bad choices. The researchers grouped the jobs in four categories by using a few well-established methods. The “active jobs”, on the other hand, are psychologically demanding and imply the worker’s high control.
People in high-stress jobs were 58 percent more likely to have a stroke caused by a blood clot in the brain – an ischemic stroke – than those with low-stress jobs.
Women were found to be at greatest risk. The risk was particularly acute for women, who were 33% more likely to have a stroke if their jobs fell into this most stressful category.
The data suggest that high-strain jobs raise stroke risk for men as well, but with only 12,323 men in the study, their results weren’t statistically significant.
It’s already known that work stress can increase your risk for heart disease.
Participants with high-stress jobs had a 22 % greater risk of stroke than those with low-stress jobs.
The jobs were further classified into active and passive jobs. More active jobs, like doctors and teachers, have high demand, but they also have a high amount of control.
The researchers also noted that gender made a difference to the figure.
The extensive analysis and the findings are featuring in the latest edition of the Neurology journal. Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke, which is caused by the blockage of blood flow.
According to Chinese scientists, waiters and waitresses are doing the most stressful job there is, with anti-social hours and low sense of personal empowerment contributing to an increased risk of stroke among staff.
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Whatever the biological explanation, these results highlight the urgent need to find the resources to transform stressful jobs. Huang goes on to note “It is vital for people with high-stress occupations to address these lifestyle issues”.
