Rotating night shift work can be hazardous to your health

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-01/ehs-rns010215.php

Public Release: 5-Jan-2015
Elsevier Health Sciences

Night shift work has been consistently associated with higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. In 2007 the World Health Organization classified night shift work as a probable carcinogen due to circadian disruption. In a study in the current issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that women working rotating night shifts for five or more years appeared to have a modest increase in all-cause and CVD mortality and those working 15 or more years of rotating night shift work appeared to have a modest increase in lung cancer mortality. These results add to prior evidence of a potentially detrimental effect of rotating night shift work on health and longevity.

Sleep and the circadian system play an important role in cardiovascular health and antitumor activity. There is substantial biological evidence that night shift work enhances the development of cancer and CVD, and contributes to higher mortality.

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the authors analyzed 22 years of follow-up and found that working rotating night shifts for more than five years was associated with an increase in all-cause and CVD mortality. Mortality from all causes appeared to be 11% higher for women with 6-14 or 15 years of rotating night shift work. CVD mortality appeared to be 19% and 23% higher for those groups, respectively. There was no association between rotating shift work and any cancer mortality, except for lung cancer in those who worked shift work for 15 or more years (25% higher risk).

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