Association Between Rotating Night Shift Work and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease Among Women
Summary
This prospective study tracked over 189,000 nurses across 24 years to examine whether rotating night-shift work raises the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Women with longer durations of rotating night shifts had a small but significant increase in CHD risk compared to women who never worked nights. The risk was strongest among those with many years of rotating night duty and appeared to lessen after workers stopped night shifts, suggesting that some of the excess risk may decline over time.
Why It Matters For Night Shift Workers and Night Owls
This study shows that rotating night work carries long-term risks for heart health. The increase in CHD risk was modest but real, particularly for workers with more than a decade of rotating shifts. Importantly, the risk seemed to drop after leaving night schedules, meaning the body may recover over time. For night-shift workers, this underscores the value of regular cardiovascular checkups and the need for workplaces to minimize long-term, high-exposure rotating schedules to protect heart health.
Notes
Free full text on PMC: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5102147/