| Title: |
Long working hours and risk of 50 health conditions and mortality outcomes: a multicohort study in four European countries |
| Authors: |
Ervasti, J; Pentti, J; Nyberg, ST; Shipley, MJ; Leineweber, C; Sørensen, JK; Alfredsson, L; Bjorner, JB; Borritz, M; Burr, H; Knutsson, A; Madsen, IEH; Magnusson Hanson, LL; Oksanen, T; Pejtersen, JH; Rugulies, R; Suominen, S; Theorell, T; Westerlund, H; Vahtera, J; Virtanen, M; Batty, GD; Kivimäki, M |
| Source: |
The Lancet Regional Health - Europe , 11 , Article 100212. (2021) |
| Publication Year: |
2021 |
| Collection: |
University College London: UCL Discovery |
| Description: |
Background: Studies on the association between long working hours and health have captured only a narrow range of outcomes (mainly cardiometabolic diseases and depression) and no outcome-wide studies on this topic are available. To achieve wider scope of potential harm, we examined long working hours as a risk factor for a wide range of disease and mortality endpoints. / Methods: The data of this multicohort study were from two population cohorts from Finland (primary analysis, n=59 599) and nine cohorts (replication analysis, n=44 262) from Sweden, Denmark, and the UK, all part of the Individual-participant Meta-analysis in Working Populations (IPD-Work) consortium. Baseline-assessed long working hours (≥55 hours per week) were compared to standard working hours (35-40 h). Outcome measures with follow-up until age 65 years were 46 diseases that required hospital treatment or continuous pharmacotherapy, all-cause, and three cause-specific mortality endpoints, ascertained via linkage to national health and mortality registers. / Findings: 2747 (4·6%) participants in the primary cohorts and 3027 (6·8%) in the replication cohorts worked long hours. After adjustment for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, working long hours was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death (hazard ratio 1·68; 95% confidence interval 1·08-2·61 in primary analysis and 1·52; 0·90-2·58 in replication analysis), infections (1·37; 1·13-1·67 and 1·45; 1·13-1·87), diabetes (1·18; 1·01-1·38 and 1·41; 0·98-2·02), injuries (1·22; 1·00-1·50 and 1·18; 0·98-1·18) and musculoskeletal disorders (1·15; 1·06-1·26 and 1·13; 1·00-1·27). Working long hours was not associated with all-cause mortality. / Interpretation: Follow-up of 50 health outcomes in four European countries suggests that working long hours is associated with an elevated risk of early cardiovascular death and hospital-treated infections before age 65. Associations, albeit weak, were also observed with diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and injuries. In these data working long ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
text |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10140667/ |
| Availability: |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10140667/1/1-s2.0-S2666776221001897-main.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10140667/ |
| Rights: |
open |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.ACB28C59 |
| Database: |
BASE |