[Stressful work and heart do not get along well].

As other occupational risk factors, like noise, heat or some chemicals, stress at work may induce coronary heart disease. Occupational stress has several components and is usually measured using two different instruments: the Karasek model defines the job strain as the association between high constraints and low latitude at work, whereas the Siegrist model relies on the imbalance between efforts at work and rewards. It is now well established that occupational stress is an independent risk factor of coronary heart disease, the attributable risk fraction being about 3.5%, yielding some 3,400-4,000 incident cases each year in France. Several biological mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain how stress can induce coronary heart disease, but this remains largely unknown.
(© 2017 médecine/sciences – Inserm.)