Workaholic? Study Says People Who Work Long Hours Are More Prone to Stroke, Heart Disease

Working hard is not smart after all.

In the study published at The Lancet, it was found out that long working hours in a week may lead to an increase risk of having stroke and developing coronary heart disease.

The study, conducted by researchers from University College London (UCL), reviewed and analyzed various studies regarding the link of working hours to cardiovascular health and stroke, from Europe, Australia, and the U.S.

Evaluating 17 studies that involved 500,000 men and women who were followed up in an average of 7.2 years, it was determined that the risk of stroke is 1.3 times or 33 percent higher for individuals working 55 hours or more. The study also revealed that individuals working for 49-54 hours have 27 percent higher risk of stroke while a 10 percent risk is present for those who work between 41-48 hours.

Moreover, the said higher risk remained even after taking into consideration factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity as well as the standard cardiovascular risk factors that includes high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

On the other hand, analysis of 25 studies that includes 8.5 years of data from more than 600,000 men and women from the three countries showed that there is a 13 percent higher risk of developing coronary heart disease, even after risk factors like age, sex and socioeconomic status are considered.

According to Medical News Today (MNT), the study is not the first one to evaluate the links between working hours and cardiovascular disease, citing a previous study, which revealed that individuals working for 61 to 70 hours a week has 42 percent higher risk of having a coronary heart disease. However, it pointed that it is the largest of its kind to make a study on the subject.

"The pooling of all available studies on this topic allowed us to investigate the association between working hours and cardiovascular disease risk with greater precision than has previously been possible," lead researcher Prof. Mika Kivimäki, from UCL, told Medical News Today.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease and stroke are currently ranked first and fifth, respectively, in the top causes of death in the U.S.

"Health care professionals should advise patients who work long hours that such working pattern is associated with an increased health risk and that management of vascular risk factors is particularly important for them, that is: keeping blood pressure, lipid levels and blood glucose within the normal range, adequate physical activity, eating and drinking healthfully, avoiding overweight and avoiding excessive stress," added Prof. Kivimäki.