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Bob Schwadron
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STRESS FACED BY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS
NOT LINKED TO HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
NEW YORK, NY -- Despite the stress and tension of their jobs, air traffic controllers do not experience a greater incidence of high blood pressure than people in less stressful work environments, according to a study published in the current issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.
The study, which compared blood pressure of 80 male air traffic controllers at busy Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, with 240 men from the nearby town of Monza, found that blood pressure of both groups was virtually identical.
"This suggests that stress associated with high responsibility on the job does not necessarily increase blood pressure," says Michael Weber, MD, an editor of the American Journal of Hypertension. "This is important information since it may help to dispel the myth that high levels of commitment or responsibility have unwanted effects on blood pressure.
"However, it is also possible that those people selected for jobs as air traffic controllers have, in other ways, demonstrated a special ability to handle stressful situations without influencing their blood pressures."
Nearly 50 million Americans have high blood pressure, called the silent killer because it prematurely ages the body's arteries and can lead to strokes, heart attacks and kidney disease, often without warning.
"An almost 30 year history of medical and ergonomic research has not yet solved the controversy over the blood pressure consequences of the claimed stress factor in the air traffic controller's job," note the authors of the study, 'Ambulatory Blood Pressure In Air Traffic Controllers.'
The researchers, from the University of Milan, said some studies report an increased prevalence and incidence of hypertension in air traffic controllers compared to the general population while other studies show no difference.
"Both kinds of results have been criticized for the procedures employed to assess blood pressure in both air traffic controllers and the control populations," the investigators explain.
By using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, the investigators were able to study blood pressure in the air traffic controllers with a greater degree of accuracy than with conventional blood pressure monitoring techniques. In ambulatory monitoring the test subjects wear a small non-invasive device that automatically measures systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate
The air traffic controllers ranged in age from 25 to 54 years, were in good health and not taking medication for hypertension or cardiovascular disease. The 240 control group members were randomly extracted from another study and ranged in age from 25 to 64 years. Their jobs included executives, managers and professionals, 26 percent; self-employed artisans and vendors, eight percent; clerks, 39 percent; skilled manual workers, 19 percent and unskilled workers, eight percent.
Blood pressure of all subjects was measured three times by a physician using a standard sphygmomanometer before they were given an ambulatory device that was set to obtain readings every 20 minutes.
The researchers found conventional sphygmomanometric systolic blood pressure (the first of the two blood pressure readings which measures the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart is pumping) was greater in the air traffic controllers.
"However, ambulatory 24 hour, day, night and hourly systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were superimposable in the two groups," the University of Milan researchers said. "Thus, in air traffic controllers the stressful nature of the job had no effect on daily life blood pressure."
They theorize that air traffic controllers represent a select group whose professional training allows them to cope with their job requirements.
"In Italy, as in other countries, air traffic controllers enter their job after a long training in the military air force and after a severe selection process that may make them as a group particularly resistant to stress," the researchers said. "Actually very few air traffic controllers leave their job and generally not for health reasons.
"This may thus represent a case in which health problems related to the job are prevented by the selection and training procedures employed before starting the job itself," the researchers conclude.
The American Society of Hypertension is the largest US organization devoted exclusively to hypertension and related cardiovascular diseases. The organization is committed to alerting physicians, allied health professionals and the public about new medical options, facts, research findings and treatment choices designed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
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