Working night shifts can disrupt the body’s clock and shift workers are slightly more at risk of having a heart attack or stroke than day workers, research suggests.
An analysis of studies involving more than 2m workers revealed that shift work can disrupt the body clock and have an adverse effect on lifestyle, BBC Health reported. The team of researchers from Canada and Norway analysed 34 studies.
In total, there were 17,359 coronary events of some kinds, including cardiac arrests, 6,598 heart attacks and 1,854 strokes caused by lack of blood to the brain. These events were more common in shift workers than in other people. It has previously been linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure and diabetes. Limiting night shifts would help workers cope.
The study calculated that shift work was linked to a 23 percent increased risk of heart attack, 24 percent increased risk of coronary event and 5 percent increased risk of stroke.
The researchers took the socioeconomic status of the workers, their diet and general health into account in their findings. Night shift workers are up all the time and they do not have a defined rest period.
