Excerpts from Stress Free for Good

Facts About Stress

• Job stress costs employers more than $300 billion each year in absenteeism, tardiness, burnout, lower productivity, high turnover, worker's compensation and medical insurance costs. The American Institute of Stress, 2002 Newsletter
  
  
• Of all visits to primary care physicians, 75-90% are for stress-related complaints, as are more than half of the 550,000,000 work days lost annually because of absenteeism. Job Stress: America's Leading Adult Health Problem, by Paul J. Rosch, M.D., F.A.C.P- in USA Magazine, May 1991. American Academy of Family Physicians Survey, 1988, U.S. News & World Report. December 11, 1995
  
  
• Another survey revealed that 75% of Americans described their jobs as stressful, with most stating that this had gotten worse over the past 10 years. Job Stress: America's Leading Adult Health Problem, by Paul J. Rosch, M.D., F.A.C.P., in USA Magazine, May 1991.
  
  
• A recent government study ranked stress management training first in popularity in worksites of 750 or more, with better than 60% currently involved in such activities. In its draft of national health objectives for the year 2000, the Public Health Service placed an extremely high priority on this, recommending that at least 40% of corporations employing more than 50 should be providing stress management programs for their workers. Job Stress: America's Leading Adult Problem, by Paul J. Rosch, M.D.. F.A.C.P., in USA Magazine, May 1991.
  
  
• It is now believed that as much as 80% of all disease and illness is initiated and aggravated by stress. Stress Management, National Safety Council. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston. MA, 1995.
  
  
• An estimated 1 million persons are absent from work on an average workday because of stress-related disorders. Other research suggests that 40% of job turnover is due to stress. The Market For Stress Management Products & Services, Marketdata Enterprises, Inc.. September 1996.
  
  
• Aggregate data from 20 companies with a total of over 200,000 employees indicate that for patients under age 65, anxiety and depressive disorders severe enough to require hospitalization accounted for roughly one percent of total admissions. These admissions accounted for about 1.5% of the total costs for hospitalization benefits. Stress Management. National Safety Council, Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Boston, MA, 1995.
  
  
  • In close to the majority of responses (47%), reduced productivity is cited as the most serious consequence of employees stress, anxiety or depression on company operations. Morale problems and absenteeism were cited by 40% while slightly less than one-third cited alcohol or substance abuse (30%), poor work quality (29%) and somatic symptoms or illness (28%). One in five (21%) cited increased turnover and accidents as serious consequences. Stress Management, National Safety Council, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston, MA. 1995.
    
    
  • Over eight in ten respondents (86%) reported one or more stress-provoking events. Most common are layoffs or rumors of layoffs, mentioned by two-thirds of those responding (68), talk of plant or office closing, mentioned by 46%, or actual plant closing, mentioned by 41%. About one-third reported strikes or labor disputes and a similar number reported involvement in a merger or hearsay about a takeover by another company. Only 14% of the respondents reported no such stress-provoking events. Stress Management, National Safety Council, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston. MA, 1995.
    
    
• The California Worker 's Compensation Institute determined that job stress claims increased 700% from 1979 to 1988. M. Lehmer et al. J Occup Environ Med. 1997: 39(1)
  
  
• In a recent 3-year analysis of over 46,000 workers from six major U.S. companies, depression and unmanaged stress emerged as the top two most costly risk factors in terms of medical expenditures increasing health care costs by 2 to 7 times as much as physical risk factors such as smoking, obesity and poor exercise habits. R.Goetzel et al. .7 Occup Environ Meet. 1998; 40( 10)
  
  
• A nationwide survey conducted by the New York Business Group on Health revealed that each employee suffering from stress, anxiety or depression is estimated to lose 16 days of work per year, as compared to an average of 4 to 6 lost workdays for all employees. New York Business Group on Health, 1990
  
  
• In a national survey of 1,305 employed adults, 13% reported that they or their coworkers had committed an act that they would describe as 'desk rage ' out of stress or anger, and nearly one in five had quit a job because of stress. Caravan Opinion Research Corp. Int'1/L.A. Times, Dec. 10, 2000
  
  
• Sixty to 80% of accidents on the job are stress-related. In 1982, the total cost of work-related accidents in this country was $32 billion. Jones. J.W.: A cost evaluation for stress management, EAP Digest, 35-39. Nov, Dec., 1984.
  
  
  

SOURCE: "Costs of Occupational Circulatory Disease" by J. Paul Leigh, Ph.D. and Peter Schnall, M.D., in The Workplace and Cardiovascular Disease Occupational Medicine State of the Art Reviews, Peter L. Schnall, M.D., M.P.H., et al., (cds); PA: Hanley & Belfus, pp. 257-267, January-March 2000.

According to a study appearing in the October 19, 2002 issue of the British Medical Journal:

• Regardless of the occupation, workers who reported high job strain--defined as a demanding job that allows the employee little control--were 2.2 times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than workers with low job strain were. (Even after controlling for the effects of conventional cardiovascular risk factors, e.g., obesity, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, smoking and being overweight). Similarly, employees who felt there was a large imbalance between their job effort and reward had a 2.4-times higher risk of cardiovascular death.
  
  
• The study also found that greater job stress at the study's outset was associated with higher cholesterol and body mass index 5 to 10 years later--regardless of factors such as age, exercise habits and smoking.
  
  
• According to the researchers the link between job strain and cardiovascular disease was strongest among workers who were still doing the same job 5 years after their work-stress levels were measured. This is in line with the idea that chronic stress is more likely when a person sticks with the same job or workplace for the long haul.
  
  

SOURCE: "Work Stress Doubles Risk of Heart Disease Death" by Patricia Reaney (http://abcnews.go.com) and "Stressful work tied to heart disease death risk" by Amy Norton (www.reutershealth.com); accessed October 18,2002.

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Unless otherwise indicated, Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier. All Rights Reserved.
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