Health Focus - Working overtime bad for the heart? | Sunday,30 May 2010
People who regularly work overtime are more at risk of developing coronary heart disease than people who don't work overtime, according to a study published this week in the European Heart Journal.
Working overtime is thought to be related to health problems including high blood pressure, sleep problems and depression. The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of working overtime and the incidence of coronary heart disease - there is lack of research in this area.
The researchers analysed data from over 6,000 men and women aged between 39 and 61 who didn't have heart disease and worked full-time at the start of the study. The data was from the Whitehall II study, which is a study of over 10,000 British Civil Servants.
At the start of the study, the researchers asked the participants how many hours a day they spent working. They divided the participants into four groups: no overtime (seven to eight hour working day), one hour of overtime (nine-hour working day), two hours of overtime (10-hour working day) or three to four hours of overtime (11 to 12 hour working day). Over an average of 11 years, the researchers assessed the participants for risk factors of coronary heart disease, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They also asked lifestyle-related questions including alcohol consumption, exercise level and daily fruit and vegetable intake.
"Work-life balance is about combining work with other responsibilities to help you have control over how you work."
Dr Jenny Leeser, Clinical Director at Bupa
At the end of the study, the researchers identified how many of the participants had coronary heart disease. They also identified non-fatal heart attacks and cases of angina.
The researchers found that 369 people developed coronary heart disease or angina, or had a non-fatal heart attack. When they took into account different recognised cardiovascular risk factors (such as diabetes and smoking), the researchers' results showed that participants who worked 11 to 12 hours a day (three to four hours overtime) were at an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease, compared with those who did no overtime work. They also found that overtime work was associated with lower HDL cholesterol - this is a type of cholesterol that helps prevent cholesterol building up in your blood vessels. Having low levels may increase your risk of heart disease.
Dr Jenny Leeser, Clinical Director at Bupa, said: "This large cohort study is interesting and well designed. The researchers adjusted for different recognised cardiovascular risk factors and found a link between working overtime and coronary heart disease. However, the reasons behind the link are not clear and also, the link was only found in association with working an extra three to four hours a day.
"It's important that you have a work-life balance. If you feel like your workload is getting on top of you, think about how you can manage the pressures of your job. Work-life balance is about combining work with other responsibilities to help you have control over how you work.
"Currently at Bupa we provide Bupa employee assistance programmes to businesses, which is a confidential counselling and advice service for employees that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For individuals, we offer a coronary health check and a cardiovascular risk score as part of some health assessments."
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