Night shifts raise risk of breast cancer, says Danish research

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/28/night-shift-raises-cancer-risk-study



A night shift at a Royal Mail sorting office during the Christmas period. There are calls for Britain to follow Denmark in compensating women who have worked night shifts for long periods. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images


The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has commissioned research into reported links between working night shifts and breast cancer in women in an attempt to establish whether working at night increases the risk of chronic disease.

A number of studies have suggested that women working night shifts may be more prone to breast cancer. Fresh research from Denmark, covering women who have worked in the country's military, and published on Monday in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, showed that night shift work was associated with a 40% increased risk of breast cancer.

Any results in the HSE study that strengthen the evidence of previous research would sharpen the debate over whether Britain should follow Denmark in compensating women who have worked night shifts for long periods.

The HSE, which says the risk is not yet established, has asked the cancer epidemiology unit at Oxford University to investigate the disruption caused to people's body clocks by lifestyle and working patterns. It describes the work as complex and challenging.

[hedgehog]

1. I've worked nights, and you never really get

good sleep no matter how dedicated you are. Most people I know end up swinging back to days on week-ends so you never really settle in.

On the other hand, could it be something as simple as lower Vitamin D levels? What about people overeating in place of getting enough sleep?

There are a lot of questions to be looked at here!