Workaholics more likely to have heart problem?

A new study published online in the European Heart Journal suggests working overtime for a few hours may drastically boost heart risk.

The study showed that those who worked ten or more hours a day were at a 60 percent increased risk of heart-related problems such as death due to heart disease, nonfatal heart attacks and angina.

Dr. Marianna Virtanen, an epidemiologist at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki (Finland) and University College London (UK) and colleagues conducted the study.

The researchers found the association after analyzing data from 4,262 men and 1,752 women aged 39 to 61 who are followed for 11.2 years. Of the subjects, 369 cases of fatal coronary heart disease, nonfatal heart attacks or angina were identified.

However, they found participants who worked one or two hours longer each day did not seem at higher risk for heart problems.

The researchers said  the increased risk may be due to many things.   One possibility is that people working overtime often were more aggressive, tense, time-conscious and hostile, which is not good for heart health.

By David Liu