Comparison of cardiac response to managerial workload between men and women

The aim of the study, was to estimate the reaction of selected circulatory system parameters to psychic workload in industrial managers and to answer the question whether may affect this reaction. The study was performed in 23 men (mean 46 +/- 6 years of age) and 16 women (mean 42 +/- 6 years of age), employed as executives in a large industrial plant. The subjects had their 24-h ECG recorded using Medilog 3000 (Oxford). The ECG recordings were classified as pathological according to the standards of Bjerregaard. Heart rate was calculated for working time, leisure time and sleep. The subjects were also asked to estimate the perceived psychic load according to a method involving subjective estimation of work-demands and of an ability to cope with them. Generally, the subjects reported high work demands, but coping abilities were higher than work demands. Both in the men and women, a relationship was found between the intensity of subjective estimation of psychic load and heart rate response. However, the reaction of the circulatory system to the psychic workload in men was long-lasting (its effects continued until late at night); in women it was more direct (only during work). The frequency of abnormalities in 24-h Holter ECG recordings for both test groups was not very high, a little higher in men (30%) than in women (25%), and was comparable with the frequencies in selected general population groups. Our results may indicate that mental workload of the managerial staff, does not cause increased frequency of ECG abnormalities. However, in view of the fact that cardiovascular diseases are more frequent among men than among women, different reaction of the circulatory system to workload should also be accounted for in an attempt to explain the sources of that phenomenon.