Stress takes toll for women

LONDON: Work stress, sleep disorders, and fatigue, considered as non-traditional risk factors for heart attack and stroke, are rising more steeply in women than men, a study suggests.

Researchers compared data from 22,000 men and women in the Swiss Health Survey from 2007, 2012, and 2017 and found what they described as an alarming rise in the number of women reporting the nontraditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease. They suggest this trend coincided with an increase in the number of women working full-time from 38 per cent in 2007 to 44 per cent in 2017.

In both men and women, the number of people reporting stress at work rose from 59 per cent in 2012 to 66 per cent in 2017.

While those reporting feeling tired and fatigued increased from 23 per cent to 29 per cent — to 33 per cent in women and 26 per cent in men.

However, the study also found the traditional risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease had remained stable in the same period.