Having limited intellectual stimulation and poor social support seems to increase the risk of dementia. Researchers in Germany wondered if a lame job might have the same effect.

What the researchers wanted to know: How do psychosocial factors at work affect the risk of dementia?

What they did: The researchers found 195 dementia patients through physicians in Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany, and three neighboring cities. They interviewed the patients' relatives about medical history and occupational history—when the patient started and finished each job and the job title and industry. They then used a "job exposure matrix" put together by Finnish researchers based on survey data. Basically, for each of 311 jobs, the matrix can tell you how challenging it is, how the social climate is, work load, and so on. The researchers also interviewed 139 randomly chosen Frankfurt residents ages 65 or older about their own job history.

What they found: People with dementia were less likely to have had challenging jobs. But other psychosocial factors, including social climate at work and work load, did not differ between the dementia patients and the people without dementia.

What the study means to you: Having intellectual stimulation seems like a good idea.

Caveats: The dementia patients obviously couldn't report on their own work history, but since the interviewers were asking fairly basic questions, their relatives probably got it right. And one person's dream job could be another person's daily slog through hell, so the job exposure matrix is a rough tool, but it should give some idea of a job's social characteristics.

Find out more: Go to the U.S. News career section for help on how to find a job

Read the article: Seidler, A. et al. "Psychosocial Work Factors and Dementia." Occupational and Environmental Medicine. December 2004, Vol. 61, pp. 962–971.

Abstract online: http://oem.bmjjournals.com