Manual work link to heart disease

Monday April 22nd, 2013

Affluent societies associate heart disease with sedentary jobs and lack of fitness - but people in demanding physical jobs may also face a high risk, researchers warned yesterday.

Two European studies have linked these kind of jobs to heart disease and stroke, a major conference heard.

Experts said the findings might be explained by the stress linked to these jobs, meaning that workers did not benefit from exercise in the same way as those who do it for leisure.

They may also indicate the low pay often linked with this kind of work.

Researchers from Greece and Belgium unveiled their findings at the EuroPRevent 2013 conference of the European Society of Cardiology.

Dr Demosthenes Panagiotakos, of Harokopio University, Athens, reported on a study of 1,000 people, 250 who suffered their first stroke and 250 of whom suffered their first heart attack.

He compared the occupations of stroke and heart attack patients with those of healthy people.

This showed a 20% increased risk for each difference between the physical demands of jobs.

Dr Els Clays, of the University of Ghent, Belgium, led research studying some 14,000 middle-aged men. This found that men in physically hard jobs were four times as likely to develop heart disease as those who undertook physical activity in leisure time - and they did not benefit from leisure activity.

Dr Clays said: "The results of this study suggest that additional physical activity during leisure time in those who are already physically exhausted from their daily occupation does not induce a 'training' effect but rather an overloading effect on the cardiovascular system."

Tags: Europe | Fitness | Heart Health

Printer friendly page