RESUMO
Objective:To identify the influence of occupational stress on occurrence of hypertension.Methods:A prevalent cohort of 964 male workers employed for at least 3 years with different occupational stress were investigated with Occupational Stress Index, hypertension was diagnosed by WHO criteria of 1996. Results:The occupational stress was a risk factor for hypertension with RR=1.70 and in a dose-effect pattern after adjusted for other factors. In high exposure group, the adjusted incidence density was 12.47/per 1000 person-years with RR=2.99, in the medium exposure group, that was 8.81/per 1000 person-years with RR=2.11, that of low exposure group was 4.17/per 1000 person-years, the differences between different groups had statistic significance. When the length of exposure was more than 10 years, the adjusted incidence of hypertension increased significantly in high and medium exposure groups.Conclusions:Causality between occupational stress and hypertension exist, but it needs long exposure of at least 10 years for occurrence of hypertension.