Choose Your Workplace Carefully to Avoid Coronary Diseases

A study carried out in the United Kingdom confirmed what we all suspected: bosses can send you to the grave.

The authors suggest that it is plausible to connect a high level of justice with a reduction in chronic stress and its association with coronary heart disease (CHD).

An earlier study had shown that employees had lower blood pressure on days spent working with a supervisor they perceived as fair.

Mika Kivimaki, Ph.D., of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues analyzed data from 6,442 male office staff in 20 civil service departments in London, England. Justice at work was measured at phase one (1985-1988) and two (1989-1990).

Each participant was given a score based on a self-reported justice scale. They were divided into three groups based on their average score. Participants were followed for incidence of coronary heart disease from 1990 to 1999. Conventional risk factors for coronary heart disease were measured at phase one.

"In men who perceived a high level of justice, the risk of incident CHD was 30 percent lower than among those who perceived a low or an intermediate level of justice", the researchers report.