Abstract
Shift work is considered a risk factor for some health problems. This study aimed to determine whether night shift work is a significant factor for breast cancer risk. The case–control study was conducted from 2015–2019 in the Łódź region. The case group included 494 women diagnosed with malignant breast cancer; the control group included 515 healthy women. The research tool was an anonymous questionnaire. In the case group, the percentage of women working shift work was 51.9%, whereas in the control group, it was 34.1% (OR = 2.08 (95% CI: 1.61; 2.69)). A more insightful examination of shift work showed that only night work has a significant impact on breast cancer (OR = 2.61 (95% CI: 1.94; 3.53)). Even after considering the effect of other possible cancer factors (like high BMI, smoking, early menstruation, late menopause, pregnancy history, age, place of living, education), the odds of developing cancer were twice as high in the group of shift workers (OR = 2.20 (95% CI: 1.57; 3.08)). Considering a significantly higher risk of cancer among people working at night and a high percentage of such employees in Poland, the government should consider special action in the prophylactic treatment of cancers.
Highlights
In the European Union (EU) in 2018, 18.1% of employees worked shifts—slightly fewer than at the beginning of the period for which data on this topic are available in Eurostat (2002)
Considering the aim of the study, the analysis covered 973 women who answered the question regarding shift work
One of the first studies confirming the hypothesis that shift work might increase the risk of breast cancer was a case–control study conducted in Denmark, which found that the relative risk of breast cancer in shift workers was 1.5 and in shift workers of over 6 years it was 1.7, demonstrating the direct relationship between shift work and an increased risk of breast cancer [30]
Summary
In the European Union (EU) in 2018, 18.1% of employees worked shifts—slightly fewer than at the beginning of the period for which data on this topic are available in Eurostat (2002). In the EU in 2018, 13.2% of the total working population worked night shifts, considerably fewer than in Poland, which in the same year recorded a figure of 17.5%. The percentage of working women is lower than men, which is understandable if we consider that shift work is primarily a characteristic of the industrial (in particular the mining section), transport, healthcare, and public administration sectors. Night work in the healthcare sector mainly concerns women (nurses), it is not very significant at the scale of the entire economy, because the whole healthcare sector 2 classification) employs less than 6% of the total working population in Poland (LFS data for 2018), whereas the industrial sector Night work in the healthcare sector mainly concerns women (nurses), it is not very significant at the scale of the entire economy, because the whole healthcare sector (Section Q according to NACE rev. 2 classification) employs less than 6% of the total working population in Poland (LFS data for 2018), whereas the industrial sector
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