[The effect of stress in the workplace on the risk of ischemic heart diseases--the role of epidemiologic studies].

Among numerous areas of occupational medicine, the studies of the impact of psychosocial factors on the development of cardiovascular diseases have been progressing most rapidly. The role of epidemiological studies in analysing the effect of this group of stressors on the incidence of ischaemic heart disease is discussed. The most significant outcome of the studies regarding selected psychological reactions referred to Karasek and Theorell's model of psychic burden/control, the role of life events, A type behavior and other selected personality changes. The authors stress that issues such as so called 'selection phenomenon', adequate size of the populations investigated, accurate selection of measurement methods, control of confounding factors and the cause-effect inference based on cross-sectional studies, are the major limitations in epidemiological studies of the effect of occupational stress on the state of health. Further progress in this area depends on how far these limitations could be overcome.