Personal anxiety and its associations with work stress in open urban population

Objective. The aim of the study was to determine the associations of a high level of personal anxiety (PA) with stress at work among women in an open urban population. Design and methods. A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted on a representative sample of 1000 women aged 25-64, formed from the electoral lists of citizens of the city of Tyumen, the response rate was 70,3 %. PA and stress at work was assessed by the standard WHO MONICA-MOPSY questionnaire. Results. Among women of the open population of a medium urbanized city of Western Siberia, PA is rather prevalent with the prevalence of its high level over a low level in the age range and the achievement of an absolute maximum in a high level of PA in the fifth decade of life. Stress at work during the previous twelve months was manifested as following: more than a third of respondents began to perform additional work, by the sixth decade of life, the workload had stabilized. Responsibility at the workplace was reported as high by more than half of the population, about 40 % of women denied the possibility of a good rest after a working day. In women with a high level of PA, stress at work was associated with the increase in responsibility at the workplace and the lack of opportunities for rest after a working day. Conclusions. Thus, the results of the study obtained on an open urban population identified the most vulnerable age categories of women with a high level of PA, as well as the relationships between PA and work-related stress. Our results can serve as a scientific basis for the development of preventive programs to reduce the risks of cardiovascular diseases in female populations of medium urbanized cities of Western Siberia.

1. Gafarov VV, Gafarova AV, Gagulin IV. Blood pressure, coronary artery disease and psychosocial factors (epidemiological study based program WHO “MONICA-psychosocial”). Arterial’naya Gipertenziya = Arterial Hypertension. 2010;16(6):608–612. In Russian.

2. Denollet J, Maas K, Knottnerus A, Keyzer JJ, Pop VJ. Anxiety predicted premature all-cause and cardiovascular death in a 10-year follow-up of middle-aged women. J Clin Epidemiol. 2009;62(4):452–456. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2008.08.006

3. Smoller J, Pollack M, Wassertheil-Smoller S, Jackson RD, Oberman A, Wong ND et al. Panic attacks and risk of incident cardiovascular events among postmenopausal women in the women’s health initiative observational study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64(10):1153–1160. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.64.10.1153

4. De Vroege L, de Heer EW, van der Thiel E, Van den Broek KC, van der Sluijs JF, van der Feltz-Cornelis CM. Type D personality, concomitant depressive and anxiety disorders, and treatment outcomes in somatic symptom and related disorders: an observational longitudinal cohort study. Front Psychiatry. 2019;10:1–11. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00417

5. Chamik T, Viswanathan B, Gedeon J, Bovet P. Associations between psychological stress and smoking, drinking, obesity, and high blood pressure in an upper middle-income country in the African region. Stress Health. 2018;34(1):93–101. doi:10.1002/smi.2766

6. Correl ChU, Solmi M, Veronese N, Bortolato B, Rosson S, Santonastaso P et al. Prevalence, incidence and mortality from cardiovascular disease in patients with pooled and specific severe mental illness: a large-scale meta-analysis of 3,211,768 patients and 113,383,368 controls. World Psychiatry. 2017;16(2):163–180. doi:10.1002/wps.20420

7. Meyer T, Buss U, Herrmann-Lingen C. Role of cardiac disease severity in the predictive value of anxiety for all-cause mortality. Psychosom Med. 2010;72(1):9–15. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181c64fc0

8. Compare A, Brugnera A, Spada MM, Zarbo C, Tasca GA, Sassaroli S et al. The role of emotional competence in Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Psychosom Med. 2018;80(4):377–384. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000564

9. Okereke O, Manson JE. Psychosocial factors and cardiovascular disease risk: An Opportunity in Women’s Health. Circ Res. 2017;120(12):1855–1856. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.117.311113

10. Gafarov VV, Gagulin I, Gafarova AV, Panov D, Gromova EA, Krymov EA. Psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular disease: gender differences and 22-year dynamics among the population of Siberia (WHO MONICA-Psychosocial Program, HAPPIEE). Terapevticheskii Arkhiv = Therapeutic Arhive. 2020;92(1):15–24. doi:10.26442/00403660.2020.01.000249. In Russian.

11. Akimova EV, Smaznov VYu, Kayumova MM, Gakova EI, Akimov AM, Gafarov VV et al. Selected parameters of chronic social stress in open population — association with the prevalence of ischemic heart disease. Cardiovascular Therapy and Prevention. 2014;13(6):28–31. doi:10.15829/1728-8800-2014-6-28-31. In Russian.

12. Akimov AM. Parameters of stressful events at a young age (data of cross-sectional epidemiological studies). Rossijskij Kardiologicheskij Zhurnal = Russian Journal of Cardiology. 2020;25(6):61–67. doi:10.15829/1560-4071-2020-3660. In Russian.

13. McKee M. Monica monograph and multimedia sourcebook. J Soc Med. 2003;96(12):613–614.

14. Akimov AM, Gakova EI, Akimova AA, Gafarov VV, Kuznetsov VA. The association between parameters of stress in the workplace and the nature of work in women of an open urban population. Sibirskiy Meditsinskiy Zhurnal = Siberian Medical Journal. 2016;4(31):76–79. doi:10.29001/2073-8552-2016-31-4-76-79. In Russian.

15. Tibubos AN, Brahler E, Ernst M, Baumgarten C, Wiltink J, Burghardt J et al. Course of depressive symptoms in men and women: differential effects of social, psychological, behavioral and somatic predictors. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):189–290. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-55342-0

16. Tillmann T, Pikhart H, Peasey A, Kubinova R, Pajak A, Tamosiunas A et al. Psychosocial and socioeconomic determinants of cardiovascular mortality in Eastern Europe: a multicentre prospective cohort study. PLoS Med. 2017;14(12):e1002459. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002459

17. Cho Y, Lim TH, Kang H, Lee Y, Lee H, Kim H. Socioeconomic status and depression as combined risk factors for acute myocardial infarction and stroke: a population-based study of 2.7 million Korean adults. J Psychosom Res. 2019;121:14–23. doi:10. 1016/.jpsychires.2019.01.016

18. Belialov FI. Depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with coronary heart disease. Terapevticheskii Arkhiv = Therapeutic Arhive. 2017;89(8)8:104–109. doi:10.17116/terarkh2017898104-109. In Russian,

19. Mark G, Smith AP. Effects of occupational stress, job characteristics, coping, and attributional style on the mental health and job satisfaction of university employees. Anxiety Stress Coping. 2012;25(1):63–78. doi:10.1080/10615806.2010.548088

20. Karasek RA, Theorell T. Healthy work: stress productivity and the reconstruction of working life. New York: Basic Books; 1992. 398 p.