Heart attack risk is linked to stress at work

Stress in the workplace has been linked to greater risk of heart attack and death from coronary heart disease. Appearing in the Lancet medical journal, the research suggested it could be highly dangerous for a person to have a demanding job with little control over the role.

According to investigators at University College London, job strain is associated with a 23 per cent increase in heart problems of this type - and they pointed out that although it is more commonly found in lower skilled workers, strain can affect employees in any profession.

Professor Mika Kivimaki of the learning institute said: "Our findings indicate that job strain is associated with a small but consistent increased risk of experiencing a first coronary heart disease event, such as a heart attack."

It was demonstrated that reducing strain of this kind in the workplace would lead to a 3.4 per cent reduction in such cases, while the elimination of smoking would result in a 36 per cent decline.