Scientists have changed their minds
Night work does not increase the risk of breast cancer
Valeria Sema, Copper news, based on materials The Guardian.
Working the night shift does not increase the risk of developing breast cancer, according to the results of a large cohort study conducted in the UK and published in the British Journal of Cancer.
In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that shift work that disrupts the sleep-wake cycle is "probably carcinogenic." So, based on this information, in 2009 Denmark began to pay compensation to dozens of women with breast cancer. For decades, experts have cited data indicating the existence of such a connection. However, the agency should reconsider its findings this summer.
The results of a new breast cancer study, which analyzed data from 102,869 women over 10 years, are the most comprehensive to date.
"A possible link between exposure to electric light at night and an increased risk of breast cancer was first suggested more than 30 years ago, but studies have not yet yielded results," he said. Michael Jones, co-author of the study and researcher in the field of genetics and epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. "In our new study, we found no overall association between women who have done night shift work over the past 10 years and their risk of developing breast cancer, regardless of the different types of work performed, including night shifts, and the age at which they started working."
A new study (Jones et al., Night shift work and risk of breast cancer in women: the Generations Study cohort, published in the British Journal of Cancer – BM) is based on the findings of a 2016 meta-analysis, according to which the link between night shift work and breast cancer is insignificant or absent. The results of that study were disputed due to the middle-aged middle age of the participants and the limited detail of the nature of women's shift work.
The average age of the participants in the new study was 45 years, 17.5% regularly worked the night shift (from 10 pm to 7 am) during the previous 10 years. Shift work data was tracked six years later.
2,059 of the 102,869 participants developed invasive breast cancer. Taking into account the mixed risk factors, the researchers found no general association with night shift work. There were also no significant differences in the risk associated with the type of night shift work, the age of starting work, as well as with starting work before or after the first pregnancy.
The only statistically significant trend concerned the average number of night working hours per week, but, according to the researchers, it is not supported by previous data or any biological explanations.
"We hope these results will help to assure hundreds of thousands of women working the night shift that an increase in the risk of developing breast cancer due to their staffing schedules is unlikely," she said. Delyth Morgan, Executive Director of Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Now.
However, as Michael Jones emphasized, night shifts can have other negative health consequences.
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