Heart Disease and Occupational Risk Factors in the Canadian Population: An Exploratory Study Using the Canadian Community Health Survey

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to find temporal trends in the associations between cardiovascular disease and occupational risk factors in the context of the Canadian population. METHODS: Population data were analyzed from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) collected between 2001 and 2014 for trends over time between heart disease and various occupational risk factors hours worked, physical exertion at work, and occupation type (management/arts/education, business/finance, sales/services, trades/transportations, and primary industry/processing). RESULTS: We found no significant difference in the average number of hours worked/wk between individuals who report having heart disease in all years of data except in 2011 (F 1,96 = 7.02, p = 0.009) and 2012 (F 1,96 = 8.86, p = 0.004). We also found a significant difference in the degree of physical exertion at work in 2001 (F 1,79 = 7.45, p = 0.008). There were statistically significant results of occupation type on self-reported heart disease from 2003 to 2014. CONCLUSION: Canadian data from the CCHS do not exhibit a trend toward an association between heart disease and the number of hours worked/wk. There is an association between heart disease and physical exertion at work, but the trend is inconsistent. The data indicate a trend toward an association between heart disease and occupation type, but further analysis is required to determine which occupation type may be associated with heart disease.