The Health Risks of Shift Work: We Know More Now

imageOur focus this month, like last month, is heart health but it’s on risk rather than rehabilitation. Recent research has strengthened the connection between shift work and a person’s risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Previous research made that connection debatable. Now a group of Canadian researchers have combined the results of studies that involved more than two million people and performed statistical analyses that produce a stronger conclusion than any one study could.1

They found that the risk for both heart attack and stroke was definitely higher for shift workers than for those working a regular daytime schedule.

graphicMany jobs, in industry, healthcare, emergency response, and other fields, require a schedule other than 9am-5pm. The researchers looked at night shifts, split shifts, on-call shifts and other work patterns. They found the worst shift for the heart is the night shift, with a 41% increase in risk for heart problems.

“Risk” shouldn’t be translated as “causes.” But it could be especially important for people who do shift work to learn about and monitor risk factors like high blood pressure or cholesterol, and employers of shift workers may choose to invest in screening programs, worker education on symptoms of heart problems, and other efforts to promote occupational health.

1Vyas MV, Garg AX, Iansavichus AV, et al. Shift work and vascular events: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ. 2012;345:e4800. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e4800.

 

March 2013


UI HealthWorks is a member of the WORKSAFE IOWA Occupational Medicine Associate Network, the only university-affiliated network of occupational health providers.

WORKSAFE IOWA is an outreach program of the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health in the College of Public Health at The University of Iowa.


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