JOB CATEGORIES AND ACUTE ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE: A HOSPITAL-BASED, CASE-CONTROL STUDY IN TAIWAN

Background Most studies of the relationship between work and
acute ischemic heart disease (IHD) were performed in
western populations, and the extent to which their findings
hold in Asian populations is largely unknown. The purpose of
this study was to examine the association between job
categories and non-fatal, first episodes of acute IHD in
Taipei, Taiwan. Methods A hospital-based, case-control
design was used. Cases were patients with a first episode of
non-fatal acute IHD who were admitted to the department of
cardiology. Two controls without known cardiovascular
disease were matched to each caseforage, gender, and date of
admission. A total of 119 cases and 238 controls were
enrolled between April and September 2004. Results Compared
with white-collar workers, blue-collar workers had a 5.3-
fold (95% CI: 1.5, 18.5) increased risk of a first episode
of non-fatal acute IHD, while self-employed workers and
managers1professionals had a slightly lower odds ratio of 0.
6 (95% CI: 0. 1, 2.4) and 0.5 (95% CI: 0.1, 2.2),
respectively. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity, physical
inactivity, and sleep disturbance were significant
riskjactorsfor acute IHD. A clustering of the cardiovascular
riskjactors wasfound in blue-collar workers. Conclusions
Blue-collar workers had a 5.3-fold increased risk of a first
event of nonfatal acute IHD compared with white-collar
workers, and this increased risk was associated with a
clustering of cardiovascular riskjactors.