Taking appreciation to heart: appreciation at work and cardiovascular risk in male employees

Alisa Auer; Norbert K Semmer; Roland von Känel; Livia Thomas; Claudia Zuccarella-Hackl; Roland Wiest; Petra H Wirtz

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1284431

Taking appreciation to heart: appreciation at work and cardiovascular risk in male employees

Front Public Health. 2024 Mar 4:12:1284431. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1284431. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Alisa Auer^{1

2}, Norbert K Semmer^{1

3}, Roland von Känel⁴, Livia Thomas¹, Claudia Zuccarella-Hackl^{4

5}, Roland Wiest⁶, Petra H Wirtz^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Biological Work and Health Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
² Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
³ Psychology of Work and Organizations, Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital Bern,University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Abstract

Introduction: While perceived appreciation at work has been associated with self-reported health and wellbeing, studies considering biological health markers are lacking. In this study, we investigated whether appreciation at work would relate to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk as well as the specificity of this proposed association.

Methods: Our study comprised a total of 103 male participants, including apparently healthy, medication-free, non-smoking men in the normotensive to hypertensive range (n = 70) as well as medicated hypertensive and CHD patients (n = 33). CHD risk was assessed by blood pressure [mean arterial pressure (MAP)], the diabetes marker glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood lipids [total cholesterol (TC)/high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio], coagulation activity (D-dimer and fibrinogen), and inflammation [interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and C-reactive protein (CRP)]. Perceived appreciation at work, as well as potentially confounding psychological factors (social support, self-esteem, and work strain due to a lack of appreciation), were measured by self-report questionnaires.

Results: We found higher appreciation at work to relate to lower overall composite CHD risk (p's ≤ 0.011) and, in particular, to lower MAP (p's ≤ 0.007) and lower blood lipids (p's ≤ 0.031) in medication-free participants as well as all participants. This overall association was independent of confounding factors, including related psychological factors (p's ≤ 0.049).

Discussion: Our findings indicate that appreciation at work might be an independent health-promoting resource in terms of CHD risk. Implications include that encouraging appreciation at work may help reduce the development and progression of CHD.

Keywords: HbA1c; appreciation at work; blood lipids; blood pressure; coagulation; coronary heart disease; inflammation; positive cardiovascular health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomarkers
Cardiovascular Diseases*
Cholesterol, HDL
Coronary Disease*
Heart Disease Risk Factors
Humans
Lipids
Male
Risk Factors

Substances

Biomarkers
Cholesterol, HDL
Lipids

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by research grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (320030_122406 and PP00P1_128565/1 to PHW), from the German Research Foundation (INST 38/550-1 and EXC 2117-422037984 to PHW), the German Scholars Organization (GSO/CZS 2 to PHW), and the University Hospital Bern (F3-1999 to RvK). The funding sources had no impact on study design, data collection, data analysis, manuscript writing, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.