Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

ResearchOccupational Health

Night shifts can lead to cancer, study suggests

by Nic Paton 2 Aug 2017
by Nic Paton 2 Aug 2017

Working night shifts is associated with a reduced ability to repair DNA lesions that can, over time, cause DNA damage which could result in mutations known to lead to cancer, research from the US has argued.

The study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, supported earlier research suggesting night-shift work may be associated with higher cancer risk.

The study by epidemiologist Dr Parveen Bhatti built on 2001 research by Dr Scott Davis, from the same centre, which found that nurses who regularly worked a “graveyard” shift had higher rates of breast cancer.

Other studies have backed up the night shift/cancer connection, leading an International Agency for Research on Cancer study in 2007 that classified shift work as “probably” carcinogenic to humans.

Dr Bhatti measured the presence of a so-called “biomarker” called 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) in the urine of night-shift workers and then tracked whether these levels changed when the same population reverted to a night-sleep schedule during their days off.

The analysis found that night-shift workers excreted less of the biomarker during periods of work compared to periods of night sleep.

The excreted 8-OH-dG is associated with a lesion created when regular cellular metabolism produces reactive oxygen species, which then react with DNA.

The body normally repairs these 8-OH-dG lesions and excretes the biomarker in urine.

If not repaired, however, the lesions will cause mutations that can eventually lead to cancer.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The fact that night-shift workers excreted less of the biomarker during periods of night work indicated that fewer lesions were being naturally repaired.

 

Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consultant editor at Personnel Today. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for Personnel Today and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

previous post
Employee health benefits are more than “bells and whistles” for insurance products
next post
How workplace mediation reduced conflict and stress during Barts hospital merger

You may also like

Third in north west fear ill health will...

2 Jul 2025

Supporting employees through substance abuse

24 Jun 2025

How employers can support cancer carers better

11 Jun 2025

Two-thirds of workers still struggling to access GPs...

10 Jun 2025

Half with MS have left a job because...

3 Jun 2025

Uncertainty over law hampering legal use of medical...

20 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

Awareness weeks fuel spike in demand for mental...

19 May 2025

Healthcare workers prioritise mental health support in new...

12 May 2025

Two-thirds of school leaders suffering mental ill health

6 May 2025

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today