Researchers on Friday revealed that
working 55 hours or more per week, might be associated with greater risk of
stroke and developing coronary heart disease, compared with working a standard
35 to 40 hours.
The study led by researchers from
University College London, was published in the journal The Lancet.
Prof. Mika Kivimaki, who led the
study, said they did a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies
and unpublished individual-level data examining the effects of longer working
hours on cardiovascular disease.
He said the analysis of data from 25
studies involving 603,838 men and women from Europe, U.S. and Australia, were
followed for an average of eight and a half years.
Kivimaki said in the final analysis
they found a 13 per cent increased risk of incident coronary heart disease, in
people working 55 hours, or more per week, compared with those putting in a
normal 35 to 40 hour week.
He said further that there was
another analysis of data from 17 studies involving 528,908 men and women who
were followed up for an average of 7.2 years.
Kivimaki said researchers found a
1.3 times higher risk of stroke in individuals working 55 hours or more a week
compared with those working standard hours.
He said most importantly, the
researchers found that the longer people worked, the higher their chances of a
stroke.
“For example, compared with people
who worked standard hours, those working between 41 and 48 hours had a 10 per
cent higher risk of stroke, and those working 49 to 54 hours had a 27 per cent
increased risk of stroke.
“We fully investigated the
association between working hours and cardiovascular disease risk with greater
precision than has previously been possible,” he said.
Kivimaki said the researchers
discovered that increasing health-risk behaviours, such as physical inactivity
and high alcohol consumption, as well as repetitive triggering of the stress
response, might increase the risk of stroke.
He stressed that the causal
mechanisms of these relationships need to be better understood.
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