WOMEN'S SAFETY AND HEALTH ISSUES AT WORK

Health Concerns: Heart Disease

Little is known about job risks for coronary heart disease. Studies have found heart disease in some people may be linked to certain chemical and physical factors:

Exposure to certain chemicals, such as carbon disulfide, nitroglycerin and carbon monoxide, has been found to affect the heart.
Environmental tobacco smoke, extreme heat, and extreme cold are possible risk factors for heart disease.
Many studies have found a link between work-related stress and heart disease.
There is also evidence that job noise and increased blood pressure may be linked, as well as shift work and heart disease.
Though more physical activity results in less heart disease, heavy lifting (in work and non-work settings) has been linked with increased chance of heart attack.

NIOSH Publications

Recent investigations of cardiovascular deaths of female fire fighters:

Related Resources

Associations of occupation, job control and job demands with intima-media thickness: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
In a study in which women made up more than half of the subjects, blue-collar jobs and low levels of job control were associated with the development of subclinical atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries without apparent symptoms).