Chasing deadlines can be deadly

Deadlines can indeed be deadly, says a study which found that trying to get a job done on time boosted the risk of a heart attack.

People under short-term but intense pressure to meet deadlines were six times more likely to have a heart attack within the next 24 hours, said the study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The researchers analysed first heart attacks in more than 3500 people, most of whom took part in the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Programme.

Intense short-term pressure seemed to have a greater impact on the heart than accumulated stress over a year.

Even praise from the boss was associated with increased risk, perhaps because the accolades came after pressure to meet a deadline.

"Work-related life events characterised by high demands, competition, or conflict have the potential to trigger the onset of myocardial infarction," said lead researcher Jette Moeller, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

She and her colleagues analysed healthy people who were between 45 and 70 at the start of the study in the early 1990s. They used surveys and interviews to explore events and working life in the 12 months before their heart attacks.

About 8 per cent had experienced an event associated with work the day before their heart attack.

Men were 80 per cent more likely to have a heart attack if they experienced a conflict at work within the preceding 12 months, and the risk increased if they felt strongly affected.

For women, a change in financial circumstances tripled their risk of a heart attack. Women were also three times as likely, and men six times as likely to have a heart attack if they had taken on increased responsibilities at work, particularly when these were viewed negatively.

Just being put in a competitive situation at work doubled the heart-attack risk.

- BLOOMBERG