There are some really unhealthy jobs in the US, but for women who work in these half dozen industries, they are more likely to have poorer heart health than women in other jobs, according to new research.
Preliminary research set to be released at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2019 detailed the link between different jobs and how they affect women’s’ health, specifically more than 65,000 post-menopausal women, finding that some careers have higher chances of heart problems.
Women who are social workers or retail cashiers had the most likely chance to have poor heart health, according to the study. Here’s the breakdown, compared to women with other jobs:
Women in these industries have poor heart health
Social workers: 36% more likely to have poor heart health
Retail cashiers: 33% more likely to have poor heart health
Women in some healthcare roles, especially areas of nursing and psychiatry and home health aides: 16% more likely to have poor heart health
Registered nurses: 14% increased risk of poor cardiovascular health.
On the opposite side, women in the real estate industry or sales agents were 24% less likely to have poor cardiovascular health compared to other occupations. Administrative assistants were 11% less likely, according to the study.
“Several of the professions that had high risk of poor cardiovascular health were health care providers, such as nurses and home health aides. This is surprising because these women are likely more knowledgeable about cardiovascular health risk factors,” according to study author Bede Nriagu, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., a research fellow in epidemiology and biostatistics at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “We interpret this to mean that it’s important to look beyond individual factors such as health knowledge to better understand the context of health care and other jobs that negatively impact cardiovascular health in women.”
This article was originally published on The Ladders.
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