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Work and Cardiovascular Diseases

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Handbook of Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine

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Abstract

Work and employment are important determinants of cardiovascular health. To date, the work-related burden of cardiovascular disease is attributed primarily to an adverse psychosocial work environment although shift work and traditional physical and chemical occupational hazards continue to play a significant role. In this chapter, a brief summary of empirical evidence linking psychosocial adversity at work with cardiovascular risk and disease is given, based on epidemiological, experimental, and quasi-experimental investigations. Findings indicate that high demand in combination with low control at work and an imbalance between high effort spent and low reward received in turn (salary, promotion, job security, esteem) increase employees’ cardiovascular risk to a significant extent. Interventions that aim at reducing these exposures and at promoting healthy work can tackle three levels: structural, interpersonal, and personal. In the final part, evidence-based measures at these three levels are described, with particular emphasis on individual behavioral interventions.

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Acknowledgment

This chapter was adapted, in part, from Siegrist J (2010) Effort-reward imbalance at work and cardiovascular diseases. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health 23(3): 279–285.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany

    Johannes Siegrist

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  1. Johannes Siegrist
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Correspondence to Johannes Siegrist .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Shari R. Waldstein

  2. Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Willem J. Kop

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Edward C. Suarez

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

    William R. Lovallo

  5. Division of Gerontology Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Leslie I. Katzel

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Siegrist, J. (2022). Work and Cardiovascular Diseases. In: Waldstein, S.R., Kop, W.J., Suarez, E.C., Lovallo, W.R., Katzel, L.I. (eds) Handbook of Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85960-6_24

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