Working long hours is strongly linked to the development of atrial fibrillation, researchers reported today.
People who work 55 hours or more a week face a 40% increased risk of developing the problem within ten years compared with those who work less than 40 hours, according to a UK analysis of some 85,000 people in four European countries.
Researchers at University College, London, studied people in the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Finland for the research in the European Heart Journal.
The found more than 1,000 people who developed AF during a ten-year period. There were 4,484 people working long hours.
Researcher Professor Mika Kivimaki said: “These findings show that long working hours are associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia. This could be one of the mechanisms that explain the previously observed increased risk of stroke among those working long hours.
"Atrial fibrillation is known to contribute to the development of stroke, but also other adverse health outcomes, such as heart failure and stroke-related dementia.”
He added: “Nine out of ten of the atrial fibrillation cases occurred in people who were free of pre-existing or concurrent cardiovascular disease.
"This suggests the increased risk is likely to reflect the effect of long working hours rather than the effect of any pre-existing or concurrent cardiovascular disease, but further research is needed to understand the mechanisms involved."
British Heart Foundation medical director Professor Sir Nilesh Samani said the findings were "very interesting."
He added: "Significantly, this study clearly shows that the link between atrial fibrillation and long working hours has nothing to do with the other, already known, risk factors for the condition.
"However, the observational nature of this research means these findings cannot confirm the cause of this relationship – It could be long working hours, it could be the type of work people do or it could be some other, unmeasured, factor. More research is needed to understand and prove what’s behind this association."
Mike Kivimaki et al. Long working hours as a risk factor for atrial fibrillation: a multi-cohort study European Heart Journal 14 July 2017; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehx324.
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