Working long hours increases stroke risk

Employees may joke that their job is killing them, but a new study suggests their lament could be more real than they think.

Working long hours increases the risk of stroke by 33 percent and ups the risk of developing heart disease by 13 percent, according to British researchers. They didn't pinpoint where to lay the blame, but they think physical inactivity, alcohol consumption and higher levels of stress may be among the contributing factors.

"Sometimes people get stuck in a routine that's bad for their health," said Joy Boerschinger, stroke program coordinator at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. "If you're working long hours and under stress, that can make you eat unhealthy foods, smoke, drink and not want to do anything, like exercise. These are risk factors for stroke."

For their study, the researchers looked at data in two ways. First, they examined studies involving almost 604,000 men and women working in the United States, Europe and Australia. These people had no history of heart disease. During the roughly 8.5 years their health was tracked, 4,768 of them had heart-related events such as heart attacks.

Based on their analysis, they found people who worked at least 55 hours a week were 13 percent more likely to develop heart disease than people who worked 35 to 40 hours a week.

Then they examined their data and identified almost 529,000 men and women with no history of stroke. Of these, 1,722 had suffered strokes during the roughly seven years their health was followed.

The researchers found people who worked at least 55 hours a week were 33 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than those who worked 35 to 40 hours.

As work hours increased, so did the stroke risk, according to the study, published in the journal The Lancet.

Stroke kills almost 130,000 people each year in the United States, and about 800,000 people die annually in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease and stroke together, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To reduce stroke risk, Boerschinger has these recommendations:

• Eat a healthy diet

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Be physically active

• Don't smoke

• Limit alcohol use

• Prevent or treat high cholesterol

• Prevent or treat high blood pressure

• Prevent or treat diabetes

She also advises people to get routine checkups to make sure their cholesterol and blood pressure are at healthy levels.

On the fourth Wednesday of every month, Boerschinger teaches a class from 5-6 p.m. at Advocate Condell to explain stroke risk factors, prevention and services the hospital offers.

To sign up for the class "Putting the Pieces Together," call HealthAdvisor at (800) 323-8622; mention class code 5G54. The next class is Wednesday, Sept. 23.