Effect of family responsibilities and job strain on ambulatory blood pressure among white-collar women

Objective: This study was conducted to determine whether large family respo nsibilities and their combination with high job strain were associated with an increase in ambulatory blood pressure (BP) among white-collar women. Me thods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a stratified random sample of 199 white-collar women with or without children who were employed full t ime in jobs involving high or low strain. These women were selected from a population of 3183 women of all ages, employed in eight organizations in Qu ebec City, Canada. Subjects wore an ambulatory BP monitor for 24 hours duri ng a working day. Mean BPs were calculated. Different measures of family re sponsibilities were used, based on the number of children and their ages, a nd domestic work. Job strain was measured using the Job Content Questionnai re recommended by Karasek. Results: Family responsibility measures were sig nificantly related to diurnal BP among women holding a university degree (N = 69). Indeed, women having large family responsibilities had increases in systolic and diastolic BPs of 2.7 to 5.7/1.8 to 4.0 mm Hg (p less than or equal to .05). Among women holding a university degree, increases in diurna l systolic and diastolic BPs reached 8.1 to 10.9/5.5 to 7.1 mm Hg (p less t han or equal to .01) among women having both large family responsibilities and high job strain. These results were independent of confounders. There w as no significant association among women without a university degree (N = 130). Conclusions: Large family responsibilities were associated with signi ficant increases in diurnal systolic and diastolic BPs among white-collar w omen holding a university degree. In these women, the combined exposure of large family responsibilities and high job strain tended to have a greater effect on BP than the exposure to only one of these factors.