女強人更易患心臟病

High-flying women with demanding jobs are almost twice as likely to suffer a heart attack, research shows.

Those with highly stressful careers are more at risk from strokes, high blood pressure and cardiac arrest.

Women who say their role requires them to work 'very hard' with little opportunity to use their creative skills are 40 per cent more likely to develop heart disease or need surgery, American researchers found.

They are 88 per cent more likely to suffer a heart attack than those with more relaxed jobs - almost double the risk.

Traditionally doctors have always believed that men under pressure at work are far more likely to fall victim to heart disease.

But these latest findings from researchers at Harvard Medical school in Boston show women are just as vulnerable - particularly as they often face the added strain of juggling a family.

The study, which was presented to the American Heart Association's annual conference in Chicago, showed that high-flying women were 43 per cent more likely to need heart surgery.

The researchers looked at the records of more than 17,400 women in their 50s and 60s who all provided details on their work strains and job insecurity.

Those with highly stressful roles, who felt they did not have the chance to use their creative skills, were most at risk.

Women who were scared of losing their job were more likely to be overweight, have high blood pressure and raised cholesterol.

The researchers recommend high-flying women take certain precautions to try to protect their health.

These include regular exercise, trying not to bring your work home and having a close network of friends and family close by.

研究顯示，那些應對艱鉅工作任務的成功女性心臟病發作的機率是其他女性的兩倍。

從事高壓力職業的女性更容易中風、得高血壓和心臟驟停。

有些女性稱她們的職位迫使她們“非常努力地”工作，但卻沒什麼機會發揮自己的創造力。美國研究人員發現，這些女性患心臟病或需要動外科手術的機率比其他女性多40%。

這些女性心臟病發作的機率比那些工作較輕鬆的女性要高出88%，幾乎是她們的兩倍。

傳統上，醫生們一直認爲在壓力下工作的男性患心臟病的可能性要比女性大得多。

然而波士頓哈佛醫學院的研究人員的最新發現顯示，在壓力下工作的女性同樣容易患心臟病，而且她們通常還要同時兼顧家庭和事業，這雙重負擔讓女性更爲脆弱。

該研究是在芝加哥舉行的美國心臟協會年會上提出的。研究顯示成功女性需要動心臟手術的機率比其他女性要高43%。

研究人員查看了年齡在50歲和70歲之間的1.74萬名女性的記錄，在記錄上她們提供了有關自己工作強度和工作風險的詳細信息。

那些工作壓力很大並覺得沒有機會發揮創造力的女性患病的風險最大。

害怕失業的女性更容易超重、患高血壓和膽固醇水平升高。

研究人員建議那些成功女性採取一些預防措施來保護自己的健康。

這些建議包括定期鍛鍊、儘量不把工作帶回家，以及和親友保持親密接觸。

Vocabulary:

high-flying: very successful（十分成功的）

cardiac arrest:a sudden, sometimes temporary, cessation of function of the heart（心臟驟停）

juggle: to try to deal with two or more important jobs or activities at the same time so that you can fit all of them into your life 盡力同時應付（兩個或兩個以上的重要工作或活動）