Working Night Shifts Linked to Increased Risk of Ovarian Cancer

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified that working night shifts disrupts the circadian rhythm. In addition, night shift does more harm to your health, as it increases the risk of cancer.

A recent study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine suggests that women working night shifts are at a higher risk of ovarian cancer.

The study from Denmark was conducted on 3,300 women belonging to the age group of 34-75. Out of these, nearly 1,101 women were victims of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, and 389 women had borderline disease. They kept 1,832 women as a comparison group who did not suffer ovarian cancer. The study was conducted by Parveen Bhatti, PhD, MSc, BSc, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

The researchers enquired about the participants' working history, as well as the working hours and whether they had worked night shifts.

From the 1,101 participants, nearly 26 percent (293 women) with invasive ovarian cancer had worked for night shifts. Among 389 women with borderline disease, 32 percent (125 women) had worked night shifts. From the 1,832 comparison group, 23 percent (412 women) had worked night shifts.

When compared to the control group, fewer women with invasive cancer had used birth control pills. Women with invasive or borderline disease had fewer children than women with ovarian cancer. Borderline disease women were more likely to be younger when compared to the women with invasive disease.

Women who worked night shifts were linked to a 49 percent increased risk of early stages of diseases and 24 percent of advanced cancer when compared to those women who didn't work in night shifts.

Those belonging to the age group of 50 and older working in the night shifts were more likely to develop ovarian cancer.

Reports according to Daily Rx state that this year, an estimated 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer.