The question: Might stress at work affect a person's chances of having a stroke?
This study: It analyzed data on 6,553 workers who had never had a heart attack or a stroke, and who averaged about 50 years old. In an 11-year period, 147 of them had a stroke. Men who reported having high-stress jobs -- defined as jobs that place great demands on workers but allow them little control -- were more than twice as likely to have had a stroke as were men with low-stress jobs (low demands and high control). No link was found between occupational stress and stroke among female workers.
Who may be affected? Working men. Each year, more than 700,000 people in the United States have a stroke, the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of serious long-term disability in the country.
Caveats: Data on job stress came from the workers' evaluations of their jobs.
Find this study: Jan. 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Learn more: www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders and www.strokeassociation.org.
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