Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Working (longer than) 9 to 5: are there cardiometabolic health risks for young Australian workers who report longer than 38-h working weeks?

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The average Australian working week in middle-aged and older workers exceeds government recommendations. Long working weeks are associated with poor health outcomes; however, the relationship between long working weeks and health in young Australian workers is unknown.

Methods

Data were drawn from the 22-year follow-up of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study in Perth, Western Australia. Information was available from 873 young adults about working hours per week, shift work and sleep duration. Blood samples provided measures of cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors.

Results

Almost one-third (32.8%) of young workers reported > 38 h working weeks. This was commonly reported in mining and construction industries for males; health and social assistance, mining and retail trade industries for females. CMR factors including increased waist circumference, higher fasting plasma glucose and reduced HDL cholesterol were associated with > 38 h working weeks. These relationships were not moderated by gender or by BMI for glucose and HDL cholesterol. Total sleep time was significantly lower in both male and female workers reporting > 38 h working weeks, but did not mediate the relationships seen with CMR factors.

Conclusions

These findings point to early associations between > 38 h working weeks and CMR risk, and highlight the potential benefit of making young employees aware of the health associations with working arrangements to reduce the longer-term relationships seen with working hours and poor cardiometabolic health in population studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bannai A, Tamakoshi A (2013) The association between long working hours and health: a systematic review of epidemiological evidence. Scand J Work Environ Health 40:5–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blewett V, Rainbird S, Clarkson L, Etherton H, Paterson J (2014) Strategic engagement: Hearing the voice of young workers in the development of the youth work health and safety strategy for South Australia. In: Mitchell R (ed). Then, now and beyond proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia Inc—November, Adelaide, Australia, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia. Baulkham Hills, NSW, Australia

  • Bohle P, Quinlan M, Kennedy D, Williamson A (2004) Working hours, work-life conflict and health in precarious and “permanent” employment. Rev Saúde Pública 38:19–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell I (2002) Extended working hours in Australia. Labour Industry 13:91–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll SJ, Paquet C, Howard NJ et al (2014) Validation of continuous clinical indices of cardiometabolic risk in a cohort of Australian adults. BMC Cardiovasc Disord 14:743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho S-S, Ki M, Kim K-H, Ju Y-S, Paek D et al (2015) Working hours and self-rated health over 7 years: gender differences in a Korean longitudinal study. BMC Pub Health 15:515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dinh H, Strazdins L, Welsh J (2017) Hour-glass ceilings: Work-hour thresholds, gendered health inequities. Soc Sci Med 176:42–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Education and Health Standing Committee (2015) The impact of FIFO work practices on mental health: Final Report. Parliament of Western Australia, Perth WA

    Google Scholar 

  • Escoto KH, French SA, Harnack LJ et al (2010) Work hours, weight status, and weight-related behaviors: a study of metro transit workers. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 7:91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fair Work Ombudsman (2016) Hours of work. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employee-entitlements/hours-of-work-breaks-and-rosters/hours-of-work. Accessed 10 May 2016

  • Hayes AF (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach: Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry P, Hamilton K, Watson S et al (2013) FIFO/DIDO mental health research report 2013. Lifeline. http://www.lifelinewa.org.au/download/FIFO+DIDO+Mental+Health+Research+Report+2013.pdf. Accessed 17 Oct 2016

  • Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM et al (2015) National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations: Methodology and results summary. Sleep Health 1:40–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenbeck J (2013) Beyond occupational safety: health and well-being promotion for young workers. 141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition; 3304.1

  • Kawakami N, Araki S, Takatsuka N et al (1999) Overtime, psychosocial working conditions, and occurrence of non- insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in Japanese men. J Epidemiol Community Health 53:359–363

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimäki M, Jokela M, Nyberg ST et al (2015) Long working hours and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished data for 603 838 individuals. The Lancet 386:1739–1746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimäki M, Nyberg ST, Batty GD et al (2017) Long working hours as a risk factor for atrial fibrillation: a multi-cohort study. Eur Heart J 38:2621–2628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knutson KL (2010) Sleep duration and cardiometabolic risk: a review of the epidemiologic evidence. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 24:731–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kobayashi T, Suzuki E, Takao S et al (2012) Long working hours and metabolic syndrome among Japanese men: A cross-sectional study. BMC Pub Health 12:395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyaw-Myint S, Smith SA, Beales D, Job J, Straker L (2015) Work productivity loss among young workers. Safe Work Australia, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Le-Ha C, Beilin LJ, Burrows S et al (2013a) Oral contraceptive use in girls and alcohol consumption in boys are associated with increased blood pressure in late adolescence. Eur J Prev Cardiol 20:947–955

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le-Ha C, Beilin LJ, Burrows S et al (2013b) Gender difference in the relationship between passive smoking exposure and HDL-cholesterol levels in late adolescence. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 98:2126–2135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lingard HC, Francis V, Turner M (2010) Work–family enrichment in the Australian construction industry: Implications for job design. Constr Manag Econom 28:467–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magee CA, Caputi P, Iverson DC (2011) Short sleep mediates the association between long work hours and increased body mass index. J Behav Med 34:83–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie F (2016) Long distance commuting and regional development: a case study of Stawell, Victoria. Melbourne, VIC: Spatial Analysis and Research, Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure http://www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/222939/Stawell-Report.pdf. Accessed 10 May 2016

  • Nakagawa S (2004) A farewell to Bonferroni: the problems of low statistical power and publication bias. Behav Ecol 15:1044–1045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura K, Sakurai M, Morikawa Y, Miura K, Ishizaki M et al (2012) Overtime work and blood pressure in normotensive Japanese male workers. Am J Hypertens 25:979–985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newnham JP, Evans SF, Michael CA et al (1993) Effects of frequent ultrasound during pregnancy: A randomized controlled trial. Lancet 342:887–891

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Okosun IS, Lyn R, Davis-Smith M et al (2010) Validity of a continuous metabolic risk score as an index for modeling metabolic syndrome in adolescents. Annals Epidemiol 20:843–851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park Y-S, Butler RJ (2001) The safety costs of contingent work: Evidence from Minnesota. J Labor Res 22:831–849

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patel SR, Hu FB (2008) Short sleep duration and weight gain: a systematic review. Obesity 16:643–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2004) SPSS and SAS procedure for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 36(4):717–731

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds AC, Dorrian J, Liu PY et al (2012) Impact of five nights of sleep restriction on glucose metabolism, leptin and testosterone in young adult men. PloS one 7:e41218

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Safe Work Australia (2010) Work-related injuries experienced by young workers in Australia, 2009–10. http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publications/Documents/764/work-related-injuries-experienced-young-workers-Australia-2009-10.pdf. Accessed 17 Oct 2016

  • Solovieva S, Lallukka T, Virtanen M (2013) Psychosocial factors at work, long work hours, and obesity: a systematic review. Scand J Work Environ Health 39:241–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straker L, Beales D, Job J, Kyaw-Myint S, Smith A et al (2013) Young workers at risk: Absenteeism and presenteeism in Raine study 23 year olds. Human Factors Ergonomics Society of Australia Inc. (HFESA)

  • Straker LM, Hall GL, Mountain J et al (2015) Rationale, design and methods for the 22 year follow-up of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. BMC Pub Health 15:887

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straker L, Mountain J, Jacques A et al (2017) Cohort profile: the Western Australian pregnancy cohort (Raine) study—Generation 2. Int J Epidemiol. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw308

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Dongen HPA, Maislin G, Mullington JM et al (2003) The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep 26:117–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virtanen M, Ferrie J, Gimeno D et al (2009) Long working hours and sleep disturbances: The Whitehall II prospective cohort study. Sleep 32:737–745

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virtanen M, Hekkilä K, Jokela M et al (2012) Long working hours and coronary heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol 176:586–596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson NF, Badr MS, Belenky G et al. (2015) Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult. J Clin Sleep Med;11. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.4758

  • Workplace Gender Equality Agency. Gender composition of the workforce: By industry (2016) https://www.wgea.gov.ausitesdefaultfiles-Gendercomposition-of-the-workforce-by-industry.pdf. https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/2014-04-04-Gender%20composition-of-the-workforce-by-industry.pdf. Accessed 10 May 2016

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the ongoing input of the Raine Study participants and their families, the Raine Study Team for ongoing co-ordination of cohort follow-ups and data collection, and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for funding contributed to this research for the past 25 years. The core management of the Raine Study is funded by The University of Western Australia (UWA), Curtin University, The Telethon Kids Institute, Raine Medical Research Foundation, UWA Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Women’s and Infant’s Research Foundation and Edith Cowan University. The 22 year Raine Study follow-up was funded by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia project grants (1027449 (Eastwood et al.), 1044840 (Straker et al.) and 1021855 (Hall et al.)), Future Health WA (G06302, Eastwood et al.) and Safe Work Australia.

Funding

The 22-year Raine Study follow-up was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia project Grants [1027449 (Eastwood et al.), 1044840 (Straker et al.) and 1021855 (Hall et al.)], Future Health WA (G06302, Eastwood et al.) and Safe Work Australia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Appleton Institute, CQ University Australia, 44 Greenhill Road, Wayville, SA, 5034, Australia

    Amy C. Reynolds, Jessica L. Paterson & Sally A. Ferguson

  2. School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

    Romola S. Bucks

  3. Medical School, Royal Perth Hospital Unit, University of Western Australia, Perth, 6000, Australia

    Trevor A. Mori, Nigel McArdle, Lawrence J. Beilin & Peter R. Eastwood

  4. Centre for Sleep Science, School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

    Peter R. Eastwood

  5. West Australian Sleep Disorders Research Institute, Department of Pulmonary Physiology and Sleep Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Australia

    Nigel McArdle

  6. School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

    Leon Straker

Authors
  1. Amy C. Reynolds
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Romola S. Bucks
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jessica L. Paterson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sally A. Ferguson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Trevor A. Mori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Nigel McArdle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Leon Straker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Lawrence J. Beilin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Peter R. Eastwood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

PRE and LS are the Director and Scientific Director, respectively, of the Raine Study and have ongoing involvement in study design. TAM, NM, LJB and RSB are all involved in study design and data collection. All authors contributed to data analysis approaches and techniques. ACR wrote the article with RB, JLP and SAF, and all authors provided meaningful revision and feedback on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy C. Reynolds.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest relevant to this manuscript. CQUniversity Australia (ACR, JLP and SAF) have a collaborative research agreement with microbial genomics company uBiome. No financial interests are held, but the project is expected to generate research publications. PRE, LMS and TAM are funded by NHMRC Senior Research Fellowships (Nos. 1042341, 1019980 and 1042255, respectively). SAF’s research is currently supported by Australian Research Council (ARC) grant DP150104497, and ACR, JLP and SAF have previously been funded by SafeWork SA. RSB has grants from the NHMRC and ARC unrelated to this work and receives royalties from Hogrefe Publishers for the publication of memory test. NM has received funding support from ResMed Ltd for research projects and travel expenses to present results from these projects at an international conference.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 12 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Reynolds, A.C., Bucks, R.S., Paterson, J.L. et al. Working (longer than) 9 to 5: are there cardiometabolic health risks for young Australian workers who report longer than 38-h working weeks?. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 91, 403–412 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-018-1289-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-018-1289-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation