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Night shifts linked to increased risk of breast cancer
– Reported, 28 May, 2012
Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, Denmark, studied 141 female members of the Danish military who were born between 1929 and 1968, were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1990 and 2003, and were still alive in 2005-06.
They also looked at 551 women of the same age who had not developed breast cancer.
Survey results revealed that night shift work in general was associated with a 40 per cent increase in breast cancer risk, compared with not working night shifts.
Women who did night shifts at least three times per week for at least six years were more than twice as likely to develop the disease as those who did not.
The study also revealed that people who described themselves as a ‘morning person’ were particularly susceptible to breast cancer if they worked night shifts.
The findings, which are published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, could have important implications, as figures suggest that up to one-fifth of workers in Europe and the US are required to do night shifts.
‘This study gives further support to the hypothesis that night shift work increases the risk for breast cancer,’ the study authors concluded.
They added: ‘The observation that women with night work and morning preference (who may be less tolerant of night shift work) tend to have a higher risk for breast cancer than similar women with evening preference warrants further exploration in larger studies,’ they added.
In 2009, Denmark began paying compensation to women who develop breast cancer after working night shifts for many years, after the International Agency for Research on Cancer decided to label shift work as a ‘probable’ carcinogen.
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