Workload and cardiovascular risk factors in executives and non-executives of the same company

The lifestyle of executives purportedly differs from that of their employees who are not in an executive position, with respect to workload, amount of travelling, and eating habits. These aspects of lifestyle and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in blood were compared in 22 executives and a matched sample of non-executives in an insurance company in Norway. The mean age was 42.8 years in both groups and the mean body mass index was 25.5 and 24.8 kg/m2 in executives and non-executives, respectively. Executives travelled more and worked more hours than non-executives, but smoking habits, levels of physical activity, diet habits and blood pressure were comparable in the two groups. The blood lipoprotein estimates of total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoproteins and two compound lipoprotein indices of CV risk, as well as liver enzymes, were also of the same magnitude in both groups. The executive lifestyle as such, compared to that of non-executives, does not imply an elevated CV risk in this study, as judged from CV risk factors in blood. The efforts of the occupational health service to improve health, including the opportunity for executives to choose their workload, may have contributed to this 'negative' finding. This may indicate that preventive health programmes in the company could have been acting as intended for all groups of employees. However, somewhat high mean levels of total cholesterol (> 6.0 mmol/l) and of a compound atherogenic index in both groups suggest that continued action by the occupational health service is required.