Background: Job strain, defined as a combination of high job demands and low job control, has been reported to elevate blood pressure (BP) during work. Meanwhile, a recent experimental study showed that ghrelin blunted the BP response to such mental stress. In the present study, we examined the hypothesis that des-acyl ghrelin may have some beneficial effects on worksite BP through modulating the BP response to work-related mental stress, i.e., job strain.
Methods: Subjects were 34 overweight/obese male day-shift workers (mean age 41.7 ± 6.7 years). No subjects had received any anti-hypertensive medication. A 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring was recorded every 30 min on a regular working day. The average BP was calculated for Work BP, Morning BP, and Home BP. Job strain was assessed using the short version of the Japanese Job Content Questionnaire.
Results: Des-acyl ghrelin showed significant inverse correlations with almost all BPs except Morning SBP, Morning DBP, and Home DBP. In multiple regression analysis, des-acyl ghrelin inversely correlated with Work SBP after adjusting for confounding factors. Des-acyl ghrelin was also negatively associated with BP changes from Sleep to Morning, Sleep to Work, and Sleep to Home.
Conclusions: Des-acyl ghrelin was inversely associated with Worksite BP, suggesting a unique beneficial effect of des-acyl ghrelin on Worksite BP in overweight/obese male day-shift workers.