Characteristics of work and life predicting coronary heart disease. Finnish research project on aging workers.

This study focussed on features of work and lifestyle predicting coronary heart disease. In 1981 the 5353 subjects were active Finnish municipal employees, aged 44-58 years. They answered a postal inquiry in 1981 and 1985. The cumulative incidence of coronary heart disease was 3.5% (188). The predictors were selected by discriminant analytic methods and logistic models. The risk for women was explained best by physically too heavy work (RR 2.5, 95% CI 1.3-4.8), and residence in north-eastern Finland (RR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.4). The risk for men was explained best by three factors: smoking (RR 2.3, 95% CI 1.4-3.9), frequent walking or moving about at work (RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-2.4), and a household with two or more unemployed members over 15 years of age (RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-2.5). These men often had a secondary job or had done much housework. The risk of coronary heart disease was associated with physically heavy work before the age of 20, first employment at a young age, and building their own house around the beginning of the follow-up.