A British study of more than 100,000 women over ten years finds “no overall link” between cancer and night work.
A link between night shift work and breast cancer risk was first proposed 30 years ago. Studies since then have been inconclusive.
The Institute of Cancer Research in Britain conducted the latest study. It was published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Cancer.
“In our new study we found no overall link between women having done night shift work in the last 10 years and their risk of breast cancer, regardless of the different types of work they did involving night shifts, and the age at which they started such work,” the researchers said.
They also found no significant difference in risk relating to the type of night shift work, the age at which the work was started, or whether it began before or after a first pregnancy.
Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Now, which funded the study, said: “We hope these findings will help reassure the hundreds of thousands of women working night shifts that it’s unlikely their job patterns are increasing their risk of breast cancer.”
This article was originally published in the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association publication, Lamp.