INFLUENCE OF JOB STRAIN AND EMOTION ON BLOOD-PRESSURE IN FEMALE HOSPITAL PERSONNEL DURING WORKHOURS

A homogeneous sample of 56 women who were between the ages of 20 and 5 9 years and worked in acute emergency care, child psychiatry, or a ped iatric outpatient clinic comprised the subjects of this study to deter mine the relationship between job strain and blood pressure. Job strai n was measured with a standardized questionnaire, and blood pressure d uring workhours with self-triggered equipment. Endocrine factors (morn ing concentration of plasma prolactin, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrost erone) and emotional states recorded in diaries were also studied. Sig nificant interrelationships occurred among perceived job strain, plasm a prolactin, and diastolic blood pressure during workhours even when b ody mass index, age, family history of hypertension, level of educatio n, and mood state were adjusted for in a multiple regression analysis. Thus job strain of female care givers was associated with systolic an d diastolic blood pressure during workhours and also with diastolic bl ood pressure at rest, but not with blood pressure during leisure time.