TY - JOUR
T1 - Globalization, Work, and Cardiovascular Disease
AU - Schnall, Peter L.
AU - Dobson, Marnie
AU - Landsbergis, Paul
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© SAGE Publications.
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - Cardiovascular disease (CVD), a global epidemic, is responsible for about 30% of all deaths worldwide. While mortality rates from CVD have been mostly declining in the advanced industrialized nations, CVD risk factors, including hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, have been on the increase everywhere. Researchers investigating the social causes of CVD have produced a robust body of evidence documenting the relationships between the work environment and CVD, including through the mechanisms of psychosocial work stressors. We review the empirical evidence linking work, psychosocial stressors, and CVD. These work stressors can produce chronic biologic arousal and promote unhealthy behaviors and thus, increased CVD risk. We offer a theoretical model that illustrates how economic globalization influences the labor market and work organization in high-income countries, which, in turn, exacerbates job characteristics, such as demands, low job control, effort-reward imbalance, job insecurity, and long work hours. There is also a growing interest in "upstream" factors among work stress researchers, including precarious employment, downsizing/restructuring, privatization, and lean production. We conclude with suggestions for future epidemiologic research on the role of work in the development of CVD, as well as policy recommendations for prevention of work-related CVD.
AB - Cardiovascular disease (CVD), a global epidemic, is responsible for about 30% of all deaths worldwide. While mortality rates from CVD have been mostly declining in the advanced industrialized nations, CVD risk factors, including hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, have been on the increase everywhere. Researchers investigating the social causes of CVD have produced a robust body of evidence documenting the relationships between the work environment and CVD, including through the mechanisms of psychosocial work stressors. We review the empirical evidence linking work, psychosocial stressors, and CVD. These work stressors can produce chronic biologic arousal and promote unhealthy behaviors and thus, increased CVD risk. We offer a theoretical model that illustrates how economic globalization influences the labor market and work organization in high-income countries, which, in turn, exacerbates job characteristics, such as demands, low job control, effort-reward imbalance, job insecurity, and long work hours. There is also a growing interest in "upstream" factors among work stress researchers, including precarious employment, downsizing/restructuring, privatization, and lean production. We conclude with suggestions for future epidemiologic research on the role of work in the development of CVD, as well as policy recommendations for prevention of work-related CVD.
KW - cardiovascular disease
KW - globalization
KW - hypertension
KW - job strain
KW - psychosocial stressors
KW - work organization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84987784639&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0020731416664687
DO - 10.1177/0020731416664687
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27604540
AN - SCOPUS:84987784639
SN - 0020-7314
VL - 46
SP - 656
EP - 692
JO - International Journal of Health Services
JF - International Journal of Health Services
IS - 4
ER -