The effect of exposure to long working hours on ischaemic heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are developing Joint Estimates of the work-related burden of disease and injury (WHO/ILO Joint Estimates), with contributions from a large network of experts. Evidence from mechanistic data suggests that exposure to long working hours may cause ischaemic heart disease (IHD). In this paper, we present a systematic review and meta-analysis of parameters for estimating the number of deaths and disability-adjusted life years from IHD that are attributable to exposure to long working hours, for the development of the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates.

Selected occupational characteristics and change in leukocyte telomere length over 10 years: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

Telomere length (TL) is considered as a marker of cell senescence, but factors influencing the rate of TL attrition are not well understood. While one previous study reported the association of occupation and TL, many subsequent studies have failed to find the association. This may be due to heterogeneity within the samples and cross-sectional designs.

Explaining racial/ethnic differences in all-cause mortality in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA): Substantive complexity and hazardous working conditions as mediating factors.

Research on racial/ethnic health disparities and socioeconomic position has not fully considered occupation. However, because occupations are racially patterned, certain occupational characteristics may explain racial/ethnic difference in health. This study examines the role of occupational characteristics in racial/ethnic disparities in all-cause mortality.

Job Strain, Occupational Category, Systolic Blood Pressure, and Hypertension Prevalence: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

Objective: To assess associations of occupational categories and job characteristics with prevalent hypertension.

Methods: We analyzed 2517 Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis participants, working 20+ hours per week, in 2002 to 2004.

Results: Higher job decision latitude was associated with a lower prevalence of hypertension, prevalence ratio = 0.

Working conditions and masked hypertension.

Introduction: Masked hypertension, i.e., normal clinic blood pressure but elevated blood pressure during normal daily activities as measured by ambulatory monitoring, is a common problem and a serious cardiovascular risk factor.

Current employment status, occupational category, occupational hazard exposure and job stress in relation to telomere length: the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

Objective: Telomere length has been proposed as a biomarker of cell senescence, which is associated with a wide array of adverse health outcomes. While work is a major determinant of health, few studies have investigated the association of telomere length with various dimensions of occupation. Accelerated cellular aging could be a common pathway linking occupational exposure to several health outcomes.

Disability rates for cardiovascular and psychological disorders among autoworkers by job category, facility type, and facility overtime hours.

Background: We examined the association between long work hours, assembly line work and stress-related diseases utilizing objective health and employment data from an employer's administrative databases.

Methods: A North American automobile manufacturing company provided data for claims for sickness, accident and disability insurance (work absence of at least 4 days) for cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension and psychological disorders, employee demographics, and facility hours worked per year for 1996-2001. Age-adjusted claim rates and age-adjusted rate ratios were calculated using Poisson regression, except for comparisons between production and skilled trades workers owing to lack of age denominator data by job category.

Job strain and ambulatory blood pressure: a meta-analysis and systematic review.

We reviewed evidence of the relationship between job strain and ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in 29 studies (1985-2012). We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis on 22 cross-sectional studies of a single exposure to job strain. We systematically reviewed 1 case-control study, 3 studies of cumulative exposure to job strain, and 3 longitudinal studies.

Work organization, job insecurity, and occupational health disparities.

Background: Changes in employment conditions in the global economy over the past 30 years have led to increased job insecurity and other work organization hazards. These hazards may play a role in creating and sustaining occupational health disparities by socioeconomic position, gender, race, ethnicity, and immigration status.

Methods: A conceptual model was developed to guide the review of 103 relevant articles or chapters on the role of work organization and occupational health disparities identified through a comprehensive search conducted by NIOSH.

Factorial invariance, scale reliability, and construct validity of the job control and job demands scales for immigrant workers: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.

Immigrants have a different social context from those who stay in their home country or those who were born to the country that immigrants now live. Cultural theory of risk perception suggests that social context influences one's interpretation of questionnaire items. We examined psychometric properties of job control and job demand scales with US- and foreign-born workers who preferred English, Spanish, or Chinese (n = 3,114, mean age = 58.

Assessing the contribution of working conditions to socioeconomic disparities in health: a commentary.

Introduction: Occupational health researchers can play a pivotal role in increasing our understanding of the role of physical and psychosocial working conditions in producing socioeconomic health disparities and trends of increasing socioeconomic health disparities, contributing to interventions to reduce such disparities, and helping to improve public education materials on this subject. However, a number of methodological challenges in this field need to be considered.

Methods: Commentary, including a review of selected studies.

A systematic review of the job-stress intervention evaluation literature, 1990-2005.

Ninety reports of systematic evaluations of job-stress interventions were rated in terms of the degree of systems approach used. A high rating was defined as both organizationally and individually focused, versus moderate (organizational only), and low (individual only). Studies using high-rated approaches represent a growing proportion of the job-stress intervention evaluation literature.

Is job strain a major source of cardiovascular disease risk?

Empirical studies on job strain and cardiovascular disease (CVD), their internal validity, and the likely direction of biases were examined. The 17 longitudinal studies had the highest validity ratings. In all but two, biases towards the null dominated.

Lower socioeconomic status among men in relation to the association between job strain and blood pressure.

Objectives: This study attempted to determine whether the association between job strain (high job demands plus low job control) and blood pressure among men varies by socioeconomic status.

Methods: The cross-sectional associations between job strain and ambulatory blood pressure, by level of education, occupational status, and income, and the interaction between job strain and these measures of socioeconomic status were assessed by multiple linear regression, adjusted for age, race or ethnicity, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking, standing position, and worksite for 283 men, aged 30-60 years, from eight worksites in New York City.

Results: A substantial association between job strain and work ambulatory blood pressure was found among men with lower socioeconomic status, ranging from 2.

Life-course exposure to job strain and ambulatory blood pressure in men.

This 1985-1995 study was designed to assess the association between blood pressure (measured by using an ambulatory monitor) and history of exposure to job strain. Items from the Job Content Questionnaire were completed by 213 employed men, aged 30-60 years at entry into the Work Site Blood Pressure Study in New York City, New York, for each previous job they had held. The systolic blood pressure of men employed for >/=25 years who were exposed to job strain for 50% of their work life was 4.

The changing organization of work and the safety and health of working people: a commentary.

Recent trends in the organization of work may affect worker health through a variety of pathways--by increasing the risk of stress-related illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and psychological disorders, by increasing exposure to hazardous substances and violence on the job, or by affecting occupational health services and training programs. Much remains to be learned about the nature of changes in work organization, and how they affect worker health and safety. While available evidence is limited, such evidence suggests that recent trends in work organization may be increasing the risk of occupational illnesses.

Validity and reliability of a work history questionnaire derived from the Job Content Questionnaire.

Job design risk factors for hypertension and heart disease have often been assessed by the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). Job characteristics are typically assessed only once, however, which can result in misclassification and bias results toward the null. Newer approaches, which assess job characteristics over a working life, are hampered by the need to ask numerous questions about each job, increasing survey length and potentially reducing response rates.

Work stressors and cardiovascular disease.

Over the past 20 years, an extensive body of research evidence has documented that psychosocial work stressors are risk factors for hypertension and cardiovascular disease. These stressors, which appear to be increasing in prevalence, include job strain (the combination of psychological job demands and low job control), imbalance between job efforts and rewards, threat-avoidant vigilant work, and long work hours. This article reviews the evidence linking these stressors with hypertension and CVD, and the physiological and social psychological mechanisms underlying the associations.