Managerial Leadership Skills Linked To Staff Rates Of Serious Heart Disease

Main Category: Heart Disease
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 25 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PST

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Managers' leadership skills can have a major impact on rates of serious heart disease among staff, finds research published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Swedish researchers tracked the heart health of more than 3000 employed men who were taking part in the Work, Lipids, and Fibrinogen Stockholm (WOLF) study.

This included company employees aged between 19 and 70 working in the Stockholm area, whose heart health was checked in the workplace between 1992 and 1995.

Their occupational health records were then matched with national registry data on hospital admissions and death from ischemic heart disease up to 2003.

All the participants were asked to rate the leadership style of their senior managers, using a validated scoring system.

Competencies included consideration for individuals; how clearly they set out goals for their staff, and what they expected of them in their role; how good they were at communicating and giving feedback; how successfully they managed change; how inclusive they were; and how much they delegated.

During the monitoring period of almost 10 years, 74 cases of fatal and non-fatal heart attack or acute angina, or death from ischaemic heart disease, occurred.

The more competent staff ranked their senior managers to be, the lower was the risk of a serious heart problem or death among the lower ranking employees.

The reverse was also true, with the association between poor leadership and the risk of serious heart disease strengthening the longer an employee worked for the same company.

This suggests that the effect of leadership could be cumulative, say the authors.

The findings held true, irrespective of educational attainment, social class, income bracket, workload, lifestyle factors, such as smoking and exercise, and other risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

The authors conclude that if a direct cause and effect is confirmed, then managers' behaviour should be targeted in a bid to stave off serious heart disease among less senior employees.

"One could speculate that a present and active manager, providing structure, information and support, counteracts destructive processes in work groups, thereby promoting regenerative rather than stress related physiological processes in employees," they say.

["Managerial leadership and ischaemic heart disease among employees: the Swedish WOLF study." - Online First Occup Environ Med 2008 doi 10.1136/oem.2008.039362]

Occupational and Environmental Medicine