Night-shift work, breast cancer incidence, and all-cause mortality: an updated meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

Night-shift work exposure is proposed to link to a wide range of health issues, especially cancer incidence, cancer-specific death, and all-cause death. However, the epidemiological associations among night-shift work exposure, breast cancer, breast cancer-specific death, and all-cause mortality remain inconclusive.

We performed an updated systematic review and meta-analysis to confirm potential associations among night-shift work exposure, breast cancer, and all-cause mortality.

A total of 31 prospective cohort studies, involving 9.3 million participants, 31,244 incident breast cancer cases, 12,728 cancer-related deaths, 7882 cardiovascular deaths, and 30,807 all-cause mortalities were included. Overall, the summary RR of incident breast cancer in females for an increase of night-shift work was 1.029 (95% CI 1.003–1.055). Compared with standard day workers, night-shift workers had a statistically significantly increased RR (1.086, 95% CI 1.032–1.142) for breast cancer incidence in the subgroup of > 10 years exposure. Furthermore, a positive association was revealed in subgroup studies of rotating night-shift work (RR = 1.053, 95% CI 1.018–1.090). A significant increased risk of cardiovascular mortality was demonstrated in the night-shift work group (RR = 1.031; 95% CI 1.006–1.057).

Our systematic review and meta-analysis provided convincing evidence supporting positive associations among night-shift work exposure, breast cancer incidence, and cardiovascular mortality. Taken together, night-shift work exposure significantly increased the risk of breast cancer morbidity by 2.9% for total, 8.6% for the subgroup of more than 10 years night-shift work, and 5.3% for rotating night-shift work. In addition, night-shift work increased the risk of cardiovascular mortality by 3.1%.