Effects of work stress and home stress on autonomic nervous function in Japanese male workers

Autonomic imbalance is one of the important pathways through which psychological stresscontributes to cardiovascular diseases/sudden death. Although previous studies havefocused mainly on stress at work (work stress), the association between autonomic functionand stress at home (home stress) is still poorly understood. The purpose was to clarifythe effect of work/home stress on autonomic function in 1,809 Japanese male workers. Wemeasured corrected QT (QTc) interval and QT index on the electrocardiogram along withblood pressure and heart rate. Participants provided self-reported information about thepresence/absence of work/home stress and the possible confounders affecting QT indicators.Home stress was related positively to QT index (p=0.040)after adjusting for the possible confounders, though work stress did not show asignificant relation to QTc interval or QT index. The odds ratio of home stress toelevated QT index (≥105) was 2.677 (95% CI, 1.050 to 6.822). Work/home stress showed nosignificant relation to blood pressure or heart rate. These findings suggest thatautonomic imbalance, readily assessed by QT indicators, can be induced by home stress inJapanese workers. Additional research is needed to identify different types of home stressthat are strongly associated with autonomic imbalance.