Overworked people have more chance of getting heart disease and stroke
Posted on: 21/Aug/2015 12:13:40 PM
A study published in the journal The Lancet has said working more than 55 hours a week can increase the risk of a stroke. The study was conducted by researchers at the University College in London.
The researchers studied over 600,000 men and women. The participants were from Europe, US and Australia. They were studied over an average period of 8.5 years. Results showed that those who worked 55 or more hours a week had a 13 per cent more chance of getting coronary heart disease that those who put in normal work hours (35 to 40 hours a week).
In another study, more than 500,000 men and women were followed for an average of 7.2 years. Here, researchers from that there was 1.3 times higher risk of a stroke in those that worked 55 hours or more a week. In both studies, the results remained the same even after taking health behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity into consideration. The overworked people also had high blood pressure and cholesterol.
The results also showed that those who worked between 41 and 48 hours a week had a 10 per cent more chance of getting a stroke. Those that worked 49 to 54 hours a week had 27 per cent more chance of the same.
Say the researchers, The pooling of all available studies on this topic allowed us to investigate the association between working hours and cardiovascular disease risk with greater precision than has previously been possible... Health professionals should be aware that working long hours is associated with a significantly increased risk of stroke, and perhaps also coronary heart disease.
