Night work linked to an increased risk of cancer in women

AFP

Monday, January 8, 2018 17:37

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Monday, January 8, 2018 17:40

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WASHINGTON – The night work is linked to an increased risk of cancers of the breast, gastro-intestinal tract and of the skin in women, according to the analysis of several studies published Monday in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention”, the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

This study consists of an analysis of 61 studies covering 114 628 cancer cases and 3.9 million participants in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

These researchers, including the oncologist Xuelei Ma of the chinese University Sichuan in Chengdu, have sought to determine whether working at night during many years could increase the risk of eleven cancer types in women.

Another analysis has been performed on the effects of night work for six types of cancer among nurses.

The findings of this study show a 19% increase in risk of cancer for women working at night for several years.

This risk is greatest for skin cancer (41%), followed by breast cancer (32%) and cancer of the gastro-intestinal tract (18%) compared to women who did not perform night work in a sustainable way.

Researchers have also indicated that the increase of breast cancer was found among women working at night in North America and Europe.

According to them, this could indicate that these women had levels of sex hormones are higher which increases the risk of mammary cancer.

In the group of nurses, those who worked at night had a risk significantly larger breast cancer (58%) and gastrointestinal cancer (35%) and lung (28%).

Of all professions, nurses are the group of women with the highest risk of breast cancer, working the night for several years.

But this increased incidence could also be explained by the medical knowledge of nurses and the fact that they undergo more frequent medical examinations, are the responsibility of the authors.

Another explanation lies in the constraints of the working nurse, which can often be more intense at night.

Researchers have determined that working at night increases the risk of breast cancer by 3.3% for every five years in a night shift.

“The results of this study suggest the need for programs of health protection of women working at night, with regular medical examinations”, say the researchers.