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Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Ultrasound Assessment of Endothelial-Dependent Flow-Mediated Vasodilation of the Brachial Artery in Clinical Research
Published on: October 22, 2014
Associations of work hours, job strain, and occupation with endothelial function: the Multi-Ethnic Study of
Luenda E Charles1, Desta Fekedulegn, Paul Landsbergis
1From the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch (Drs Charles, Fekedulegn, Burchfiel, and Andrew), Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, WV; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (Dr Landsbergis), State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, NY, and State University of New York Downstate School of Public Health, Brooklyn, NY; Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation, and Field Studies (Drs Baron and Fujishiro), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, OH; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (Dr Kaufman), School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; Department of Biostatistics (Ms Stukovsky), School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy (Dr Foy), Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC; and School of Public Health (Dr Diez Roux), Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Research was conducted at the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Objective:
To investigate associations of work hours, job control, job demands, job strain, and occupational category with brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in 1499 Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis participants.
Methods:
Flow-mediated dilation was obtained using high-resolution ultrasound. Mean values of FMD were examined across categories of occupation, work hours, and the other exposures using regression analyses.
Results:
Occupational category was significantly associated with FMD overall, with blue-collar workers showing the lowest mean values-management/professional = 4.97 ± 0.22%; sales/office = 5.19 ± 0.28%; services = 4.73 ± 0.29%; and blue-collar workers = 4.01 ± 0.26% (adjusted P < 0.001). There was evidence of effect modification by sex (interaction P = 0.031)-significant associations were observed among women (adjusted P = 0.002) and nearly significant results among men (adjusted P = 0.087). Other exposures were not significantly associated with FMD.
Conclusions:
Differences in endothelial function may account for some of the variation in cardiovascular disease across occupational groups.
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