Association between Job Stress and Newly Detected Combined Dyslipidemia among Chinese Workers: Findings from the SHISO Study

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies examining the association between job stress and blood lipids have produced mixed findings. We sought to investigate the association between job stress and blood lipids among Chinese workers. METHODS: A total of 544 subjects (367 men and 177 women) without known diseases from the Stress and Health in Shenzhen Workers (SHISO) cross-sectional study were analyzed. Job stress was evaluated by the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model. The associations between job stress and blood lipids, such as for total cholesterol (TCHO), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), were explored by multiple linear regression. The association between job stress and combined dyslipidemia was examined by multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Compared with their corresponding low level groups, groups with high levels of effort, overcommitment and ERI had a significantly increased risk of combined dyslipidemia with adjusted odd ratios (ORs) of 3.5 (95% CI 1.8-6.7), 4.2 (95% CI 2.3-7.7) and 2.7 (95% CI 1.5-5.1), respectively, whereas high rewards significantly reduced the risk of combined dyslipidemia (adjusted OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2-0.6) compared with low rewards. Effort, overcommitment and ERI were significantly positively related to TG and LDL-C, while rewards were inversely related to them. No significant associations were observed between job stress and TCHO and HDL-C. The results were similar for men and women. CONCLUSIONS: Effort, overcommitment, low reward and ERI increased the risk of dyslipidemia among Chinese workers, and they were significantly associated with TG and LDL-C rather than TCHO or HDL-C. Increasing blood lipids may be the possible link between job stress and coronary heart disease.