Cardiovascular reaction to job stress in middle-aged train drivers

In this study, cardiovascular (CV) response to a standard laboratory challe nge was compared to 24-hr noninvasive monitoring of heart rate (HR) and blo od pressure (BP) in 30 healthy middle-aged train drivers. Laboratory stress test consisted of the orthostatic test, the cold presser test, the Valsalv a maneuver, the Stroop test, and the numerical square. In addition, the par ticipants completed an extensive questionnaire on their health state and fa mily health history, lifestyle, job stress, social and family support, pers onality characteristics, and health risk behaviors. In waking activities (leisure time, traveling to work, preparations for dri ving, and an uneventful driving) HR and systolic blood pressure (SBP), but not diastolic blood pressure (DBP), were normal (e.g., mean HR = 78.3, SEP = 128.6, and DBP = 92.3 during driving). In occasional stressful work situa tions, most participants reacted with a considerable rise in SEP and DBP (m aximum values 201 for SEP and 126 for DBP). Interindividual differences in maximum BP reactions to emergency stress were predicted reliably by several psychological characteristics and by the CV reactions to the laboratory ps ychological challenge. The frequency, intensity, and persistence of psychol ogical and physiological reactions to urgent situations appear to be more r elevant measures of the health impact of psychological job stress than are the shift average values of physiological stress markers.