Monday, February 04, 2013

Work and ill-health

Workers earning the lowest wages have a higher risk of hypertension than those who receive handsome salaries, a new study suggests. Hypertension occurs when the force of circulating blood against artery walls is too high.

"We were surprised that low wages were such a strong risk factor for two populations not typically associated with hypertension, which is more often linked with being older and male,"
J. Paul Leigh, senior author of the study and professor of public health sciences at UC Davis said. "Our outcome shows that women and younger employees working at the lowest pay scales should be screened regularly for hypertension as well,"

While there is a known association between lower socioeconomic status (SES) and hypertension, determining the specific reason for that association has been difficult, according to Leigh. Other researchers have focused on factors such as occupation, job strain, education and insurance coverage, with unclear results. Leigh's study was the first to focus on wages and hypertension.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hypertension affects approximately 1 in 3 adults in the US and is a major contributor to heart disease and stroke, both of which are leading causes of death and disability.

Research has also found that employees who stayed at organizations out of either a feeling of obligation or a perceived lack of other job options were more likely than other employees to experience mental and physical health problems.
Employees who stay at jobs out of a feeling of obligation are prone to several health problems, including exhaustion, stress and burnout, researchers say. "Our study examined whether some forms of commitment to an organization could have detrimental effects, such as emotional exhaustion and, eventually, turnover," study co-author Alexandra Panaccio from Concordia University in Montreal said. "It may be that, in the absence of an emotional bond with the organization, commitment based on obligation is experienced as a kind of indebtedness - a loss of autonomy that is emotionally draining over time," Panaccio said.

1 in 6 cases of adult asthma (or wheezy bronchitis ) caused by workplace environments. There are many occupations that are thought to cause asthma in adults, according to researchers. Asthma in adulthood was clearly linked to 18 types of job, and the strongest evidence seems to be for jobs involving cleaning or cleaning agents. Farming more than quadrupled the risk, hairdressing, which almost doubled the risk, and printing, which tripled the risk. The high risk agents implicated were flour, enzymes, cleaning/disinfectant products, metal and metal fumes, and textile production.

Meanwhile, a charity warned the damaging effects of the recession can be blamed for the significant increase in the number of middle-aged men committing suicide. The suicide rate among men aged between 45 and 59 years old increased between 2007 and 2011 by 8.5 per cent to 22.2 deaths per 100,000 people - the highest level for a generation

SANE chief executive Marjorie Wallace said: 'These figures reveal the profound human consequences of the economic downturn, in which unemployment, debt and the relationship breakdowns that often follow can push people who may be already vulnerable to take their own lives"

At the same time another report from researchers at the University of Brighton which claimed that irresponsible lending and intimidating debt collection is driving more people to depression and suicide. The report said that many people already struggling with wage freezes and benefits cuts during the recession are unable to cope with threatening letters and persistent phone calls.

It said: 'Debt clients frequently feel humiliated, disconnected and entrapped, with the process of debt collection having a clear impact on people’s mental health."

Stephen Platt, professor of health policy research at the University of Edinburgh and a trustee for the Samaritans, has warned middle-aged men losing their jobs were being particularly badly affected by the economic downturn. He said: 'Men judge themselves against a gold standard of masculinity set by society and when they can't meet these expectations they can feel worthless, unvalued, a deep sense of shame and that there is no reason for them to live.'

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