Psychological stress significantly impacts a woman’s risk of developing coronary heart disease, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
To conduct the study, researchers used data from more than 80,000 postmenopausal women who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, which tracked participants from 1991 to 2015, to find better methods of preventing cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis in women. They evaluated the effect of psychosocial stress from job strain, stressful life events and social strain on coronary heart disease.
Nearly 4,000 women developed coronary heart disease over the course of the 14-year study. After accounting for age, time at a job, and socioeconomic characteristics, high-stress life events, such as a spouse’s death, divorce/separation or physical or verbal abuse, were linked to a 12% increased coronary heart disease risk. And high social strain was linked with a 9% increased risk of coronary heart disease.
More so, the study suggests that the combination of job and social strain on women packs an especially powerful punch and is linked to a 21% higher risk of develop coronary heart disease. Future work, the researchers say, should look at the effects of shift work on coronary heart disease and explore the effects of job demands according to sex. The study was funded by NHLBI.