Research Plus

Job insecurity

A systematic review and meta-analysis – 13 cohort studies covering 174,438 employees (mean follow-up 9.7 years) and 1,892 incident cases of heart disease – finds that  perceived job insecurity is a statistically significant, albeit small, risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). The raised risk is also is at least partly attributable to a lower socio-economic status and less favourable CHD risk profile in those with job insecurity (for example, they are less likely to be physically active). The age-adjusted relative risk (RR) for high- versus low-job insecurity is 1.32 (95% CI 1.09–1.52); the RR adjusted for socio-demographic and CHD risk factors is 1.19 (CI 1.00–1.42).

BMJ 2013; 347: f4746

Tags evidence based practice heart disease statistics

Occupational Health at Work October/November 2013 (vol. 10/3) pp40