TY - JOUR
T1 - Workplace bullying and workplace violence as risk factors for cardiovascular disease
T2 - a multi-cohort study
AU - Xu, Tianwei
AU - Magnusson Hanson, Linda L.
AU - Lange, Theis
AU - Starkopf, Liis
AU - Westerlund, Hugo
AU - Madsen, Ida Elisabeth Huitfeldt
AU - Rugulies, Reiner Ernst
AU - Pentti, Jaana
AU - Stenholm, Sari
AU - Vahtera, Jussi
AU - Hansen, Åse Marie
AU - Virtanen, Marianna
AU - Kivimäki, Mika
AU - Rod, Naja Hulvej
PY - 2019/4/7
Y1 - 2019/4/7
N2 - Aims: To assess the associations between bullying and violence at work and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods and results: Participants were 79 201 working men and women, aged 18-65 years and free of CVD and were sourced from three cohort studies from Sweden and Denmark. Exposure to workplace bullying and violence was measured at baseline using self-reports. Participants were linked to nationwide health and death registers to ascertain incident CVD, including coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Study-specific results were estimated by marginal structural Cox regression and were combined using fixed-effect meta-analysis. Nine percent reported being bullied at work and 13% recorded exposure to workplace violence during the past year. We recorded 3229 incident CVD cases with a mean follow-up of 12.4 years (765 in the first 4 years). After adjustment for age, sex, country of birth, marital status, and educational level, being bullied at work vs. not was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.59 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.28-1.98] for CVD. Experiencing workplace violence vs. not was associated with a HR of 1.25 (95% CI 1.12-1.40) for CVD. The population attributable risk was 5.0% for workplace bullying and 3.1% for workplace violence. The excess risk remained similar in analyses with different follow-up lengths, cardiovascular risk stratifications, and after additional adjustments. Dose-response relations were observed for both workplace bullying and violence (P trend < 0.001). There was only negligible heterogeneity in study-specific estimates. Conclusion: Bullying and violence are common at workplaces and those exposed to these stressors are at higher risk of CVD.
AB - Aims: To assess the associations between bullying and violence at work and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods and results: Participants were 79 201 working men and women, aged 18-65 years and free of CVD and were sourced from three cohort studies from Sweden and Denmark. Exposure to workplace bullying and violence was measured at baseline using self-reports. Participants were linked to nationwide health and death registers to ascertain incident CVD, including coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Study-specific results were estimated by marginal structural Cox regression and were combined using fixed-effect meta-analysis. Nine percent reported being bullied at work and 13% recorded exposure to workplace violence during the past year. We recorded 3229 incident CVD cases with a mean follow-up of 12.4 years (765 in the first 4 years). After adjustment for age, sex, country of birth, marital status, and educational level, being bullied at work vs. not was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.59 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.28-1.98] for CVD. Experiencing workplace violence vs. not was associated with a HR of 1.25 (95% CI 1.12-1.40) for CVD. The population attributable risk was 5.0% for workplace bullying and 3.1% for workplace violence. The excess risk remained similar in analyses with different follow-up lengths, cardiovascular risk stratifications, and after additional adjustments. Dose-response relations were observed for both workplace bullying and violence (P trend < 0.001). There was only negligible heterogeneity in study-specific estimates. Conclusion: Bullying and violence are common at workplaces and those exposed to these stressors are at higher risk of CVD.
U2 - 10.1093/eurheartj/ehy683
DO - 10.1093/eurheartj/ehy683
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30452614
SN - 1522-9645
VL - 40
SP - 1124
EP - 1134
JO - European Heart Journal
JF - European Heart Journal
IS - 14
ER -