TY - JOUR

T1 - Prolonged or serious conflicts at work and incident dementia

T2 - a 23-year follow-up of the Copenhagen City Heart Study

AU - Ishtiak-Ahmed, Kazi

AU - Hansen, Åse Marie

AU - Mortensen, Erik Lykke

AU - Garde, Anne Helene

AU - Nørgaard, Ane

AU - Gyntelberg, Finn

AU - Rod, Naja Hulvej

AU - Islamoska, Sabrina

AU - Lund, Rikke

AU - Phung, Thien Kieu Thi

AU - Prescott, Eva

AU - Waldemar, Gunhild

AU - Nabe-Nielsen, Kirsten

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - PURPOSE: Only a few studies have investigated the impact of negative aspects of social relations on cognitive function, and they have shown mixed results. Conflicts at work are part of the negative aspects of social relations, but the impact of experiencing conflicts at work has not yet been investigated as a risk factor for dementia. Therefore, we investigated whether experiencing prolonged or serious conflicts with a supervisor or colleagues at work was associated with incident dementia in old age.METHODS: We analyzed data of 6,436 men and women from the third survey of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. At baseline in 1991-1994, the participants reported whether they had ever had a prolonged or serious conflict at work. The participants were followed until 2014. We used Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounders, the IRR for dementia was 1.53 (95% CI 0.77-3.03) among participants who had reported having prolonged or serious conflicts both with a supervisor and colleagues compared with participants who had never had such conflicts. In separate analyses stratified by sex, the IRRs were 2.14 (95% Cl 0.97-4.71) for men and 0.98 (95% Cl 0.29-3.32) for women.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings did not support an overall association between experiencing prolonged or serious conflicts at work and incident dementia. However, because of the large differences in the point estimates for men and women, future research could aim at investigating potential sex differences regarding the association between conflicts at work and dementia.

AB - PURPOSE: Only a few studies have investigated the impact of negative aspects of social relations on cognitive function, and they have shown mixed results. Conflicts at work are part of the negative aspects of social relations, but the impact of experiencing conflicts at work has not yet been investigated as a risk factor for dementia. Therefore, we investigated whether experiencing prolonged or serious conflicts with a supervisor or colleagues at work was associated with incident dementia in old age.METHODS: We analyzed data of 6,436 men and women from the third survey of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. At baseline in 1991-1994, the participants reported whether they had ever had a prolonged or serious conflict at work. The participants were followed until 2014. We used Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounders, the IRR for dementia was 1.53 (95% CI 0.77-3.03) among participants who had reported having prolonged or serious conflicts both with a supervisor and colleagues compared with participants who had never had such conflicts. In separate analyses stratified by sex, the IRRs were 2.14 (95% Cl 0.97-4.71) for men and 0.98 (95% Cl 0.29-3.32) for women.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings did not support an overall association between experiencing prolonged or serious conflicts at work and incident dementia. However, because of the large differences in the point estimates for men and women, future research could aim at investigating potential sex differences regarding the association between conflicts at work and dementia.

KW - Alzheimer’s

KW - Cohort study

KW - Midlife risk factors

KW - Negative aspects of social relations

KW - Psychosocial work factors

KW - Social relations

U2 - 10.1007/s00420-018-1365-9

DO - 10.1007/s00420-018-1365-9

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 30370497

VL - 92

SP - 165

EP - 173

JO - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

JF - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

SN - 0340-0131

ER -