Let’s put a fixed point. We are talking about an association, and not a correlation. Therefore, a clear cause-effect relationship is not demonstrated. But the fact that emerges from research conducted by the experts of the University of California in Los Angeles published on BMC Public Health still makes you think. Because it shows how women who work on their own have on average a less number of cardiovascular risk factorsand therefore a lower probability profile to meet a heart attack, compared to the peers who instead carry out an employee. In short, the data is clear: the work environment in addition to the method of profession and stress could represent parameters to be taken into consideration.
The relationship between work and health
The research, must be said, also highlights positive associations between health results and self -employment between white males. But scholars have seen that especially among women the Cardiovascular risk profile It was clearly better for freelancers than employees. And they also tried to give an explanation to the phenomenon, in a social and psychological key. The work hypothesis is that for the woman it would often be more likely to deal with stress and requests related to the balance of responsibility between work and home.
“There is a relationship between self -employment and risk factors for heart disease, and this relationship seems to be stronger in women than men. It is essential to deepen the understanding of how the work environment puts us to the test, so that you can find solutions to guarantee everyone access to a healthy work environment”
This is the comment of the coordinator of the Kimberly Narain studio, who carried on the research together with Daniela Markovic and Jose escarce.
In any case, the study adds an important piece to the knowledge available, going beyond what was already known about the relationships between the employment models of the subjects and their risk of cardiovascular diseases. In general terms, the research above all emerge differences on the cardiovascular health front (and not only) between those who cover directive positions Compared to those who work as an employee or administrative, who are often covered with women and color people. Not only that: high stress jobs, with greater psychological needs and less autonomy, have been associated with hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
However, it should be emphasized that many studies are based on self-relevant measures, not entirely reliable. This research, on the other hand, is among the few to use assessments obtained from laboratory exams and body measurements, rather than based on self-relevant measures, to explore the relationship between self-employment and risk factors for heart disease. Furthermore, this is the only study to consider the differences according to the genre and beyond.
What emerges from the research
Scholars used the data of 19,400 adult workers included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (Nhanes). In this population the association between autonomous work has been analyzed e Risk factors for cardiovascular diseasesincluding high cholesterol, hypertension, glucose intolerance, obesity, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol abuse, non -optimal sleep durability and bad mental health. Experts have therefore studied these aspects regardless of gender, race and ethnicity, using biological and physical measures which, in some contexts, are more reliable than self-relevant measures.
They also found a series of negative associations, i.e. lower rates of specific risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, between autonomous work and results in terms of health. For white women, Autonomous work was associated with a reduction of 7.4 percentage points of obesity, a drop in 7 percentage points of physical inactivity, to a decrease of 9.4 percentage points of poor sleep life. In Women of color The autonomous work, however, has positively engraved on poor nutrition, on physical inactivity and the duration of sleep. Finally, among the white malesin those who worked independently compared to employees there were a reduction of 6.5 percentage points of little healthy food trends and 5.7 hypertension points.
Obviously the study does not investigate the traits of the personality and the coping mechanisms that can influence the choice of individuals to undertake an autonomous activity and the development of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. But it offers an evaluation to take into account. For women and beyond.
