Journal Article

Carcinogenicity of night shift work

Travis, Ruth, Rowan, Elaine G, Khizkhin, Evgenii A, Knutsson, Anders, Kogevinas, Manolis, Schernhammer, Eva, Girschik, Jennifer, Vermeulen, Roel, Zienolddiny, Shanbeh, Cocco, Pierluigi, Zhu, Yong, Bouvard, Véronique, Hall, Amy L, Härmä, Mikko I, Turner, Michelle C, Herceg, Zdenko, Olson, Natalie, Guyton, Kathryn Z, Lévi, Francis, Anisimov, Vladimir N, Garde, Anne Helene, Waters, Martha, Aronson, Kristan J, Yakubovskaya, Marianna, Benbrahim-Tallaa, Lamia, Costa, Giovanni, Hansen, Johnni, Guénel, Pascal, Rumgay, Harriet, Fu, Loning, Pukkala, Eero, Grosse, Yann, Diver, W Ryan, Ward, Elizabeth M, McCormick, David, Germolec, Dori, Bhatti, Parveen, Moreno, Claudia RC, El Ghissassi, Fatiha, Dorman, David C, Kawai, Kazuaki, Schubauer-Berigan, Mary K, Zeeb, Hajo

2019

Overview

The Nurses' Health Study II, a large cohort study that evaluated breast cancer risk across a broad age range, found an elevated risk of breast cancer in long-duration night workers,3 which was also seen in a Swedish cohort study. The largest case-control study,4 including more than 6000 breast cancer cases and corresponding controls from five countries, incorporated an extensive exposure assessment protocol and evaluated detailed exposure metrics on both duration and intensity of exposure (eg, number of night shifts per week). Several studies found positive associations between night shift work and prostate cancer risk, particularly in association with longer duration of exposures, but in others there was no, or a very small, increased risk when examining ever versus never exposure to night shift work.5,6 Several informative studies found some evidence of positive associations between colorectal cancer risk and duration of night shift work. Increased incidences of hepatocellular carcinoma were seen in all three strains in comparison with control mice maintained at a stable 12-h light and 12-h dark schedule.8 In another study, exposure to constant light for a lifetime increased the incidences of lung adenocarcinoma, malignant melanoma, and total tumours in female wild-type CBA mice in comparison with control mice maintained at a 12-h light and 12-h dark schedule.9 The evaluation was further supported by positive results in other studies in rodents exposed to shifts in the light–dark schedule or continuous light using carcinogen-induced or transplantable tumour models.

• Publisher: Elsevier Ltd,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: Adenocarcinoma / Animals / Bias / Breast cancer / Carcinogenicity / Carcinogens / Cell growth / Colorectal cancer / Colorectal carcinoma / Employment / Health risk assessment / Hematology, Oncology, and Palliative Medicine / Hepatocellular carcinoma / Humans / Light / Lung cancer / Melanoma / Neoplasms - etiology / Nighttime / Prostate / Prostate cancer / Quality / Shift work / Shift Work Schedule - adverse effects / Studies / Tumors / Womens health / Workers / Working groups