Categories: At-risk populations, Stress
January 28th, 2013 2:19 pm ET -
J. Paul Leigh, Ph.D. and Juan Du, Ph.D.
If workers earning low wages didn’t have enough stressors in their lives, they can now add hypertension to the list. Our new research finds that low wages are a risk factor for hypertension among working people. The research was recently published in the European Journal of Public Health, “Are Low Wages Risk Factors for Hypertension?”, and was partially funded by NIOSH.
Whereas low Socio-economic status (SES) has been linked to hypertension, the reasons why are unclear. This is the first study to examine wages, the largest component of income (one part of SES), as a risk factor for hypertension. Why is this important? Wages are an indicator of job quality and may be linked to feelings of self worth. Low wages can also create financial stress for families that find themselves short of funds to pay for rent, electricity, heat, and gas for their cars. Additionally, there are steps policy makers can take to adjust wages. For example, governments can raise minimum wages, make it easier for unions to organize, and increase the pay of low-wage government workers.
2 Comments -
Read more
Categories: Emergency response, Stress
August 13th, 2012 4:02 pm ET -
Penelope J. Baughman, PhD; Tara A. Hartley, PhD, MPA, MPH; Cecil M. Burchfiel, PhD, MPH; and John M. Violanti, PhD
Earlier this month the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health released a special issue highlighting research from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study and from related studies of morbidity and mortality among police officers. The BCOPS study is an investigation of the early or subclinical health consequences of stress in police officers and examines associations between a variety of officer exposures and outcomes including stress, shift work, traumatic incidents, lifestyle factors, stress biomarkers, body measures, and subclinical metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
8 Comments -
Read more
Categories: Emergency response, Health care, Mining, Sleep, Stress, Total Worker Health, Vehicle safety
March 9th, 2012 8:04 am ET -
Claire Caruso, PhD, RN; Luenda Charles, PhD; Tina Lawson, PhD; Akinori Nakata, PhD; Karl Sieber, PhD; Sudha Pandalai, MD, PhD; and Ted Hitchcock, PhD
Yesterday, in honor of National Sleep Awareness Week, we blogged about sleep and work and the risks to workers, employers, and the public when workers’ hours and shifts do not allow for adequate sleep. This blog provides a brief overview of some of the work that NIOSH intramural scientists are carrying out to better understand these risks and ways to prevent them.
Nurses/Reproduction Issues/Shift Work
NIOSH studies are examining shift work and physical demands with respect to adverse pregnancy outcome among nurses, specifically the association between work schedule and risk of spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, and menstrual function. This research was the first to look at shift work and pregnancy in U. S. nurses. NIOSH researchers are collaborating with the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which is the largest, ongoing prospective study of nurses. Results have shown that an increased risk of several reproductive outcomes, including spontaneous abortion, early preterm birth, and menstrual cycle irregularities, are related to shift work, particularly working the night shift.
13 Comments -
Read more
Categories: Emergency response, Health care, Mining, Sleep, Stress, Total Worker Health, Vehicle safety
March 8th, 2012 10:33 am ET -
Claire Caruso, PhD, RN, and Roger R Rosa, PhD
We know that sleep is important. The need for sleep is biologically similar to the need to eat and drink, and it is critical for maintaining life and health and for working safely. Sleeping 7 to 8 hours a night is linked with a wide range of better health and safety outcomes. NIOSH has been actively involved in research to protect workers, workers’ families, employers, and the community from the hazards linked to long work hours and shift work. In honor of National Sleep Awareness Week, we have summarized the sleep and work issue below and, in a companion blog tomorrow, will highlight NIOSH research in this area.
A growing number of American workers are not getting enough sleep. Research shows an increase from 24% in the 1980s to 30% in the 2000s in the percentage of American civilian workers reporting 6 or fewer hours of sleep per day—a level considered by sleep experts to be too short (Luckhaupt, Tak, & Calvert 2009).
23 Comments -
Read more
