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International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 2/2019

Open Access 01-02-2019 | Original Article

Prolonged or serious conflicts at work and incident dementia: a 23-year follow-up of the Copenhagen City Heart Study

Authors: Kazi Ishtiak-Ahmed, Åse Marie Hansen, Erik Lykke Mortensen, Anne Helene Garde, Ane Nørgaard, Finn Gyntelberg, Naja Hulvej Rod, Sabrina Islamoska, Rikke Lund, Thien Kieu Thi Phung, Eva Prescott, Gunhild Waldemar, Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 2/2019

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Abstract

Purpose

Only a few studies have investigated the impact of negative aspects of social relations on cognitive function, and they have shown mixed results. Conflicts at work are part of the negative aspects of social relations, but the impact of experiencing conflicts at work has not yet been investigated as a risk factor for dementia. Therefore, we investigated whether experiencing prolonged or serious conflicts with a supervisor or colleagues at work was associated with incident dementia in old age.

Methods

We analyzed data of 6,436 men and women from the third survey of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. At baseline in 1991–1994, the participants reported whether they had ever had a prolonged or serious conflict at work. The participants were followed until 2014. We used Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results

After adjusting for potential confounders, the IRR for dementia was 1.53 (95% CI 0.77–3.03) among participants who had reported having prolonged or serious conflicts both with a supervisor and colleagues compared with participants who had never had such conflicts. In separate analyses stratified by sex, the IRRs were 2.14 (95% Cl 0.97–4.71) for men and 0.98 (95% Cl 0.29–3.32) for women.

Conclusions

Our findings did not support an overall association between experiencing prolonged or serious conflicts at work and incident dementia. However, because of the large differences in the point estimates for men and women, future research could aim at investigating potential sex differences regarding the association between conflicts at work and dementia.
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Metadata
Title
Prolonged or serious conflicts at work and incident dementia: a 23-year follow-up of the Copenhagen City Heart Study
Authors
Kazi Ishtiak-Ahmed
Åse Marie Hansen
Erik Lykke Mortensen
Anne Helene Garde
Ane Nørgaard
Finn Gyntelberg
Naja Hulvej Rod
Sabrina Islamoska
Rikke Lund
Thien Kieu Thi Phung
Eva Prescott
Gunhild Waldemar
Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen
Publication date
01-02-2019
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 2/2019
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-018-1365-9

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