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Trait-like sensitivity to stress in long QT syndrome patients has been documented previously. In addition, mental stress has been associated with symptomatic status of long QT syndrome. We examined whether the symptomatic type 1 long QT syndrome patients would be more sensitive to mental stress compared to asymptomatic patients and whether there would be differences in task-related physiological stress reactions between type 1 long QT syndrome patients and healthy individuals. The study population consisted of 21 symptomatic and 23 asymptomatic molecularly defined KCNQ1 mutation carriers, their 32 non-carrier relatives and 46 non-related healthy controls, with mean ages of 37, 39, 35 and 23 years, respectively. Electrocardiography was utilised to calculate inter-beat interval and high frequency and low frequency heart rate variability. Blood pressure was measured and mean arterial pressure and pulse pressure were calculated. Stress was induced using three different tasks: mental arithmetic, reaction time and public speech. Stress responses of symptomatic and asymptomatic type 1 long QT syndrome patients were not statistically different in any of the stress tasks. Short-term physiological stress reactivity of symptomatic type 1 long QT syndrome patients appears to be normal and does not enhance the risk assessment of asymptomatic mutation carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to provide new information on the relationships between vitality at work and role clarity, role conflict, and psychological basic need satisfaction. Participants of the cross‐sectional study were 110 employees in a preventive intervention program. Associations between the focal constructs were examined with regression and bootstrapping analyses. The results suggest that the role clarity is associated with subjective vitality at work through higher autonomy and higher competence, and that role conflict is negatively associated with subjective vitality at work through lower autonomy and lower relatedness. Additionally, an interaction between the role characteristics was observed, suggesting that the strength of the association between role clarity and competence, and the strength of the indirect association between role clarity and vitality through competence may vary depending on the level of role conflict. The findings are consistent with the notion that that managers and co‐workers may affect the opportunities of individuals to achieve need satisfaction and feel energized by delineating and negotiating role‐related factors at work. Need satisfaction, in turn, is an antecedent of well‐being and motivation. Employees should feel able to clarify role ambiguities with their supervisor or co‐workers and thus reduce the role conflicts imposed by the expectations of various stakeholders. Limitations of the study include the self‐rating methodology, cross‐sectional design, and properties of the sample restricting generalizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There have been calls to know more about vulnerability factors that may predispose to adverse health outcomes at work. We examined if childhood adverse experiences would affect vulnerability to psychosocial stress factors at work. A nationally representative sample of 1546 Finnish men and women was followed up from childhood to adulthood. Childhood adverse experiences consisted of socioeconomic and emotional factors. Job demands and job control were measured 21 years later, and depressive symptoms were measured 21 and 27 years after the childhood measurements. Job demands predicted depressive symptoms over 6 years, and the association was modified by childhood emotional adversity. Participants with three or more emotional adversities in childhood had more depressive symptoms in response to high job demands compared with participants with zero or one emotional adversities in childhood (Betas = −1.40 and −2.01, ps < 0.05 and <0.01). No such moderating effect by childhood adverse experiences was found for the association between job control and depressive symptoms. Although modest in effect size, these findings provide a developmental viewpoint for understanding the role of childhood experiences in work‐related stress factors. Such knowledge can enhance understanding of individual differences in vulnerability to the demands of working life. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burnout has been suggested to be related to depression. We examined the relationship between burnout and allostatic load, and whether this association is independent of psychological distress and depression. We measured burnout psychological distress, depression, and allostatic load in 3283 participants. Higher burnout (β = 0.06, p =0.003) and cynicism (β = 0.03, p = 0.031) and decreased professional efficacy (β = 0.03, p = 0.007) were related to higher allostatic load independent of age, sex, education, occupation and psychological distress. Depression, however, explained 60 percent of the association. Burnout is related to higher allostatic load, and this association partly overlaps with co-occurring depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of acute mental stress on atherosclerosis can be estimated using arterial elasticity measured by carotid artery distensibility (Cdist). We examined the interactive effect of acute stress-induced cardiac reactivity and Cdist to preclinical atherosclerosis assessed by carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in 58 healthy adults aged 24–39 years participated in the epidemiological Young Finns Study. Cdist and IMT were measured ultrasonographically. Impedance electrocardiography was used to measure acute mental stress-induced cardiac autonomic responses: heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia and pre-ejection period after the mental arithmetic and the public speaking tasks. Interactions between HR reactivity and Cdist in relation to preclinical atherosclerosis were found. The results imply that elevated HR reactivity to acute mental stress is related to less atherosclerosis among healthy participants with higher arterial elasticity. Possibly, increased cardiac reactivity in response to challenging tasks is an adaptive reaction related to better cardiovascular health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To study emotional distress in symptomatic and asymptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers who had experienced a recent stressful life event. The participants were 209 symptomatic and 279 asymptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers. Emotional distress was assessed with the Cope questionnaire and stressful life events with the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Symptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers with burdening recent stressful life events reported a higher emotional distress (β = 0.35, p < 0.001), while the asymptomatic did not show such difference (β = 0.13, p = 0.393). Symptomatic long QT syndrome mutation carriers who have experienced stressful life events recently report an increased emotional distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long QT syndrome (LQTS) is an inherited cardiac disorder that predisposes the mutation carrier to ventricular arrhythmias that can lead to sudden death. The objective of the present study was to replicate the previous finding in terms of stress-related temperament trait, i.e. behavioural inhibition system (BIS). The study subjects included 583 LQTS mutation carriers (256 symptomatic and 327 asymptomatic) from the Finnish LQTS registry and 79 healthy subjects randomly derived from the population-based sample of the Young Finns Study. Symptomatic and asymptomatic LQTS mutation carriers did not differ from each other on BIS (3.27 versus 3.24, p > 0.05), whereas LQTS mutation carriers scored higher on BIS than the comparison group derived from the representative population-based sample (3.25 versus 2.99, p = 0.003, η² = 0.014). BIS was significantly higher in women than in men (3.32 versus 3.06, p < 0.001, η² = 0.017). The results confirm our previous finding of higher stress proneness of LQTS mutation carriers. Their innate stress proneness may have relevance because it increases our understanding on the role of stress in the manifestation of symptoms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: The long QT syndrome (LQTS) is an inherited cardiac disorder which predisposes the mutation carrier to ventricular arrhythmias that can lead to sudden death. The objective of the present study was to examine the association between the symptom status of congenital long QT syndrome mutation carriers and their temperament. Methods: The study subjects included 587 LQTS mutation carriers from the Finnish LQTS registry, and 2056 individuals from a database study, the Young Finns Study (YFS), representing general population and serving as control subjects. The LQTS subjects were divided into symptomatic (n=259) and asymptomatic (n=328) groups, according to their history of arrhythmic events. Temperament was assessed using the Cloninger''s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), assessing novelty seeking, harm avoidance and reward dependence. Results: Congenital long QT syndrome mutation carriers had a higher harm avoidance (HA) than those representing the general population (2.77 vs. 2.61, p<.001, η²=0.011). Symptomatic and asymptomatic LQTS mutation carriers did not differ from one another in any of the three Cloninger''s temperament traits. HA was significantly higher in women (2.72 vs. 2.54, p<0.001 η²=0.017). Conclusions: LQTS mutation carriers may have higher stress proneness because of their high HA, which in turn may predispose them to the effects of environmental loading and thus increase the risk of arrhythmias. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We examined the relationship between Cloninger’s temperament in adulthood, job strain and its components. There were 613 participants (273 men) aged 30–45years. Cloninger’s temperament scale () was used to measure temperament traits of novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD) and persistence (P) in 1997 and in 2001. Job demands, job control, education and occupation were reported in 2001 and 2007. The results showed that low NS and high HA predicted higher long-term job strain. Higher NS, lower HA and higher P predicted higher long-term job control, and higher HA and higher P predicted higher long-term job demands. High RD predicted job strain only in 2001. Although job demands and job control mainly reflect characteristics of work environment, temperament tendencies seem to contribute to job strain and its components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background--The American Heart Association has denned a new metric of ideal cardiovascular health as part of its 2020 Impact Goals. We examined whether psychosocial factors in youth predict ideal cardiovascular health in adulthood. Methods and Results--Participants were 477 men and 612 women from the nationwide Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Psychosocial factors were measured from cohorts 3 to 18 years of age at the baseline of the study, and ideal cardiovascular health was examined 27 years later in adulthood. The summary measure of psychosocial factors in youth comprised socioeconomic factors, emotional factors, parental health behaviors, stressful events, self-regulation of the child, and social adjustment of the child. There was a positive association between a higher number of favorable psychosocial factors in youth and greater ideal cardiovascular health index in adulthood (β=0.16;P<0.001) that persisted after adjustment for age, sex, medication use, and cardiovascular risk factors in childhood (β=0.15; P<0.001). The association was monotonic, suggesting that each increment in favorable psychosocial factors was associated with improvement in cardiovascular health. Of the specific psychosocial factors, a favorable socioeconomic environment (β=0.12;; P<0.001) and participants' self-regulatory behavior (β=0.7; P=0.004) were the strongest predictors of ideal cardiovascular health in adulthood. Conclusions--The findings suggest a dose-response association between favorable psychosocial factors in youth and cardiovascular health in adulthood, as denned by the American Heart Association metrics. The effect seems to persist throughout the range of cardiovascular health, potentially shifting the population distribution of cardiovascular health rather than simply having effects in a high-risk population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which aims to improve and test the authenticity of a short version of the original questionnaire evaluating organizational justice in Finland. It discusses the study population which includes two samples from the continuing Finnish Health Professionals (FHP) study. It reveals the results of the study which suggested that a short standardized questionnaire assessing organizational justice in the work environment offers a helpful tool for epidemiological studies.