Abstract 13157: Workplace Culture and Biomarkers of Sympathetic Activation

Workplace environment can impact health, but most research has focused on toxic chemicals. Recently, workplace culture—experiences, values, and behaviors unique to a workplace—is studied for its impact on overall health risk; however, connections with robust biologic markers of health remain to be established. Therefore, we examine associations between work environment and urinary levels of catecholamines and their metabolites as biomarkers of sympathetic activation. In 2018-19, we recruited participants (n=219) from an ongoing CV risk cohort to investigate workplace culture, overall well-being, and stress. Participants completed 7 questionnaires. Clean catch urine samples were used to measure catecholamines and their metabolites. To estimate associations between work and health scales and log or logit-transformed outcomes we used Pearson correlation and linear regression models adjusting for demographics and creatinine. Participants reporting higher well-being had lower levels of dopamine (DA) ( r = -0.28), serotonin (5HT) ( r = -0.17), and 3-methoxytyramine (3MT) ( r = -0.31), a product of dopamine breakdown. Participants reporting a more engaged workplace had lower levels of DA ( r = -0.20) and 3MT ( r = -0.22). Those reporting more positive workplace culture had lower levels of DA ( r = -0.17) and 3MT ( r = -0.26) and higher levels of norepinephrine ( r = 0.19) and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (HIAA) ( r = 0.22). When participants identified more workplace isolation, they had higher levels of DA ( r = 0.19) and 3MT ( r = 0.19). Positive workplace culture was correlated with lower levels of DA ( r = -0.22) and 3MT ( r = -0.28) and higher levels of HIAA ( r = 0.22) and homovanillic acid ( r = 0.20). Given high correlations between catecholamines, we used 3MT for linear regression. In fully adjusted models we found in more positive work cultures, levels of 3MT remained significantly lower (β = -0.065 ±0.025, p = 0.01), accounting for 23% of the variance, and a significant positive association between workplace isolation and 3MT (β= 0.064 ±0.030, p = 0.04), accounting for 22% of the variance with 3MT, which may reflect greater dopamine degradation. These findings suggest an important relationship between how we work and sympathetic nervous system activity.