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Night shift work increases overweight, obesity risk
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Adults who are employed in shift work have an increased risk for overweight or obesity, specifically abdominal obesity, and the risk is particularly pronounced for night shift workers, according to findings published in Obesity Reviews.
“Shift work has recently been identified as an important occupational hazard, with a growing body of evidence showing an association between shift work and adverse health effects, such as metabolism abnormalities that include obesity,” the researchers wrote.
Lap Ah Tse, PhD, of JC School of Public Health and Primary Care at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 28 observational studies published between 1999 and 2016 that examined relationships between shift work patterns and obesity. Six were cohort studies, and the remaining 22 were cross-sectional.
Night shift work increased the risk for overweight/obesity (OR = 1.23; 95% CI, 1.17-1.29); the OR was higher for the combined cross-sectional studies (OR = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.19-1.33) than the cohort studies (OR = 1.1; 95% CI, 0.99-1.21).
Among shift workers, the risk for abdominal obesity was greater (OR = 1.35; 95% CI, 1.13-1.61) than the risks for BMI of at least 25 kg/m2 (OR = 1.32; 95% CI, 1.15-1.51) or weight/BMI gain (OR = 1.13; 95% CI, 1.08-1.19).
The risk for overweight/obesity was higher among studies defining “night shift” as between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. (OR = 1.32; 95% CI, 1.18-1.48) compared with studies with a broader definition of shift work that may include day shift workers (OR = 1.17; 95% CI, 1.12-1.23).
“Globally, nearly 0.7 billion workers are engaged in a shift work pattern,” Tse said in a press release. “Our study revealed that much of the obesity and overweight among shift workers is attributable to such a job nature. Obesity has been evident to be positively associated with several adverse health outcomes, such as breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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