Fu R, et al. - Researchers investigated how labor force participation (LFP) among the Japanese population is influenced by cardiovascular diseases. In addition, they tested the validity of plasma biomarkers as instrumental variables of cardiovascular diseases after adjusting for a broad set of confounders including dietary intake. Participants comprising 65,615 persons completed surveys conducted every 3 years from 1995 through 2013, which were assessed by the investigators for employment and weekly working hours during each survey year. LFP and unfavorable health were shown to have a toxic circle. A significant and remarkable reduction was noted in the probability of working in correlation to cardiovascular diseases. Only women displayed a reduction in working probability. Less likelihood to work was noted among respondents aged ≥ 40 years once diagnosed and the reduction was enlarged for those aged ≥ 65 years, while no influence was observed among those aged < 40 years. Once diagnosed, they observed a significantly reduced probability of engaging in manual labor; however, there was no impact for cognitive occupations. Employed respondents showed a reduction in working hours by 5 hours per week in correlation to cardiovascular diseases diagnosis. The biomarker instrumental variables were generally verified as efficacious.