Sources of Occupational Stress among Older Workers

Abstract

Stress-related illnesses such as coronary heart disease have shown a steady upward trend over the past couple of decades in the U.K. and other developed countries, particularly for the middle-aged. In England and Wales, for example, the death rate for men between 35 and 44 nearly doubled between 1950 and 1973. By 1973, 41% of all deaths in the age group 25–44 were due to cardiovascular disease, with nearly 30% due to cardiac heart disease. In fact, in 1976 the American Heart Association estimated the cost of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. at $26.7 billion a year.