OBJECTIVES: Several recent large-scale studies have indicated a prospective association between job strain and coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Job strain is also associated with poorer mental health, a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. This study investigates the prospective relationships between change in job strain, poor mental health and cardiometabolic disease, and whether poor mental health is a potential mediator of the relationship between job strain and cardiometabolic disease.

METHODS: We used data from five cohort studies from Australia, Finland, Sweden and UK, including 47 757 men and women. Data on job strain across two measurements 1-5 years apart (time 1 (T1)-time 2 (T2)) were used to define increase or decrease in job strain. Poor mental health (symptoms in the top 25% of the distribution of the scales) at T2 was considered a potential mediator in relation to incident cardiometabolic disease, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, following T2 for a mean of 5-18 years.

RESULTS: An increase in job strain was associated with poor mental health (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.76), and a decrease in job strain was associated with lower risk in women (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.60-0.84). However, no clear association was observed between poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96-1.23), nor between increase (HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.90-1.14) and decrease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96-1.22) in job strain and cardiometabolic disease.

CONCLUSIONS: The results did not support that change in job strain is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and yielded no support for poor mental health as a mediator.