Working too long increases risk of stroke
Anyone who works more than 55 hours a week drastically increases their risk of stroke. This is the conclusion of a study.
Long working hours can endanger health. This is shown by the largest study to date on the subject at University College London (UCL), which was published in the journal "The Lancet".
Those who work more than 55 hours per week increase their risk of stroke by 33% and of cardiovascular disease by 13%, compared with people who work 35 to 40 hours.
For the study, Professor Mika Kivimäki and his colleagues analyzed data from 25 past studies of a total of more than 600,000 men and women from the United States, Europe and Australia, who were followed for an average of 8.5 years. Risk factors such as age, gender and socioeconomic status were factored out for the results.
The results with regard to strokes are particularly clear: the longer people work, the higher their risk. Those who work only 41 to 48 hours per week already increase their risk by 10%; those who work 49 to 54 hours even by 27%.
"Long working hours are not an isolated incident," wrote Urban Janlert of Umeå University in Sweden in a commentary on the study. While the European Working Time Directive should limit working hours to 48, many countries have not implemented it.
"That's why these findings that the length of a workweek can have an impact on strokes and heart disease are very important," Janlert added. "If long working hours endanger health, it must be possible to change them."
