Impact of gender and having children in the household on ambulatory blood pressure in work and nonwork settings: A partial replication and new findings

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) has been shown to differ for men and women across work and nonwork settings. For men, ABP is higher at work than at ho me on workdays or on nonworkdays. For women, ABP levels in different settin gs depend on whether they have children in the household. Women without chi ldren at home exhibit the "male" pattern of higher ABP at work than at home . Women with children at home show either similar ABP levels in the two loc ations or higher ABP at home. These different patterns have been assumed to represent different stress levels in the two locations, but this assumptio n has rarely been tested. Also, few studies have examined ABP levels on a n onworkday in women or the effect of having children in the household for me n. The present study monitored ABP in men and women during two workdays and one nonworkday. Comparisons were made between ABP levels in three settings (workday at work, workday at home, nonworkday) using mixed random effects regression models. Psychosocial variables (e.g. mood, stress) that might me diate the different ABP patterns were also assessed. ABP differences were a nalyzed by gender and whether children were living in the household using m ixed random effects regression models. Results indicated that diastolic blo od pressure was higher at work versus home for men with children and higher at work and on nonworkdays than at home for women without children. ABP di d not differ across settings for women with children or men without childre n. These results were not mediated by mood or stress levels in the three se ttings.