Documents Fransson, Eleonor 2 results

"Objective The aim of this study was to investigate whether shift work (with or without night work) is associated with increased risk of breast cancer.Methods The population consisted of 4036 women. Data were obtained from WOLF (Work, Lipids, and Fibrinogen), a longitudinal cohort study. Information about baseline characteristics was based on questionnaire responses and medical examination. Cancer incidence from baseline to follow-up was obtained from the national cancer registry. Two exposure groups were identified: shift work with and without night work. The group with day work only was used as the reference group in the analysis. Cox regression analysis was used to calculate relative risk.Results In total, 94 women developed breast cancer during follow-up. The average follow-up time was 12.4 years. The hazard ratio for breast cancer was 1.23 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.70–2.17] for shifts without night work and 2.02 (95% CI 1.03–3.95) for shifts with night work. When including only women <60 years of age, the risk estimates were 1.18 (95% CI 0.67–2.07) for shifts without night work, and 2.15 (95% CI 1.10–4.21) for shifts with night work.Conclusions Our results indicate an increased risk for breast cancer among women who work shifts that includes night work.

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship of job strain (high psychological job demands and low decision latitude) to hypertension, serum lipids, and plasma fibrinogen.No strong associations were found between job strain and plasma fibrinogen. The males reporting job strain had lower levels of total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol than the other males. Similar tendencies were found for the females. The females, but not the males, with job strain had an increased prevalence of hypertension when compared with the subjects with relaxed psychosocial work characteristics. In the subgroups of younger males and females an adverse association between job strain and the ratio between low-density and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was noted.The results do not support the hypothesis that job strain has an adverse impact on serum total cholesterol and plasma fibrinogen levels. They suggest that an increased risk of coronary heart disease in association with job strain, if causal, is mediated by other factors, possibly partly by hypertension and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.