Promotion at work 'may be key to avoiding heart disease'

London, June 9 (ANI): Promotion at the workplace, which is generally accepted as good news for one's wallet, is beneficial for health as well, a new study has revealed.

Those working in departments with high promotion rates were 20 percent less likely to develop heart disease as compared to those with little chance of improving their situation.

Researchers studied the employment histories of 4,700 Whitehall civil servants and found those in departments with double the rate of promotion had around a 20 percent lower chance of being diagnosed with heart disease over the 15-year period of the study, from 1985 to 1999.

The researchers, Sir Michael Marmot from the University College London and Michael Anderson from the University of California, Berkeley, took the existing prevalence of heart disease and the grade at which employees joined the civil service into account.

This meant it was not simply the case that researchers found heart disease was less common in people who were originally healthier and from more privileged backgrounds.

Previous research had found that Oscar winners outlive runners-up, Nobel prize winners outlive nominees and baseball players who reach the Hall of Fame live longer than those who fall short.

Sir Michael said the survey showed that "favourable shocks can positively impact health".

"There is little question that, for individuals, achieving higher socioeconomic position is good for health," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"Promotion is one mechanism of upward social mobility. Upward social mobility is good for health," he added.

The study has been published in the Economic Journal. (ANI)