BMJ  2006;332:667 (18 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7542.667-a

Letter

Stress and illness: call to action

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The prospective study by Chandola et al on chronic stress at work as a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome adds a further public health imperative to reduce the significant morbidity from chronic stress at work.1

Last month a BUPA insurance survey found that seven million Britons feel so ill with "worry" that they seek medical help.2 In the employed population the British Occupational Health Research Foundation found that the largest, and growing, cause of work related ill health is now mental ill health.3

A number of remedial interventions such as cognitive behaviour therapy have been looked at, generally in individual sick employees. In terms of the social gradient of illness described among civil servants,1 individual interventions worked best with employees in high-control jobs.3 Employers have a legal duty of care to protect the health of all their employees, and the Health and Safety Executive has published management . . . [Full text of this article]

Woody Caan, professor of public health

Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford CM1 1SQ a.w.caan@anglia.ac.uk


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Chronic stress at work and the metabolic syndrome: prospective study
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