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Recent research has shown that people who have had continued stress on the job after returning from a heart attack had double the risk of having a second one.

While there has been a number of studies that have shown a connection between stress at work and developing coronary heart disease, there has been little research into what might happen with continued work stress after an initial attack.

Research has also shown a link between anxiety and heart disease – that anxiety experienced over a lengthy period of time increases the risk of heart attack, even when other common risk factors are considered.

The increased risk, in others words, is greater than what can be explained by high blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol, age, cigarette smoking, blood sugar, and other health factors.

Older men with long-term anxiety issues have an increased risk for heart disease even after issues like depression, anger, hostility, and Type A behavior are taken into account as well.

In one recent study, researchers looked at a group of almost 1,000 people between the ages of 35 and 59 who had been victims of a heart attack.  They were examined at various time intervals after they had returned to work.  The researchers looked at their overall health, lifestyle, social and demographic background, and amount of stress at work.  They defined workplace stress as a job with a large amount of work, a lot of intellectual activity and time limits coupled with little control over their work situation.

In this group, 124 people had a second heart attack, and 82 had unstable angina.  People who had a lot of stress at work six weeks and two years after returning to work after the first heart attack had twice the chance of having a second one. This increased risk remained constant even after allowing for other conditions, such as the intensity of the first attack, family health history, lifestyle, the person’s social and demographic status, and other work conditions.

The researchers said that this information should be a warning sign to employers in dealing with workers returning after experiencing a heart attack.  Employers may need to make some adjustments to an employee’s job duties or take a look at the amount of control the employee has over decision-making.  This can be done without affecting productivity, they said.

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