15, December 2014

Some jobs increase risk of heart disease

Want to know if your job can give you a heart attack? Workers in service and blue-collar occupations as well as unemployed people are at increased risk for heart disease and stroke, says a new research.

Those working in the wholesale trade are at greater risk - 2.9 percent of the people in that sector had suffered heart disease or a stroke in the US.

At 0.8 percent, people working in finance and insurance had the lowest rate of heart disease, the findings from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed.

Work-related risk factors for heart disease and stroke include noise, job stress, second-hand smoke and doing shift work.

For the study, researchers analysed national health surveys conducted between 2008 and 2012 to estimate the rate of heart disease and stroke among adults younger than 55 years.

They found that the rate of heart disease and stroke was highest among people in two industries.

One is Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services, and the other Accommodation and Food Services, Live Science reported.

Job insecurity is a common cause of stress leading to cardiovascular problems. Another factor may be working alternate shifts, researchers noted.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

15.12.2014

Bond with neighbours to reduce heart attack risk

Friendly neighbours may be good for your heart. Researchers have found that bonding well with your neighbours might extend social support network which is linked to lower cardiovascular disease risk.

"Perceived neighbourhood social cohesion could be a type of social support that is available in the neighbourhood social environment outside the realm of family and friends," said researchers from University of Michigan in the US.

For the study, the researchers tracked the cardiovascular health of over 5,000 US adults with no known heart problems over a period of four years, starting in 2006. Their average age was 70, and almost two thirds were women and married.

All the study participants were taking part in the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study of US adults over the age of 50, who are surveyed every two years.

During the four year monitoring period, 148 of the 5,276 participants (66 women and 82 men) had a heart attack.

Analysis of the data showed that each standard deviation increase in perceived neighbourhood social cohesion was associated with a 22 percent reduced risk of a heart attack.

When put another way on the seven-point scale, each unit increase in neighbourhood social cohesion was associated with a 17 percent reduced risk of heart attack.

This association held true even after adjusting for relevant sociodemographic, behavioural, biological, and psychosocial factors, as well as individual-level social support.

The study appeared in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

15.12.2014

Time decides whom you will meet in life. Your heart decides, whom you want in life, but your behavior decides, who will stay in your life