Women who work night shifts are more likely to have THIS disease

Time of India

16-06-2025

A UK study reveals a health concern. Women working night shifts face a higher risk of asthma. The research, involving over 270,000 people, highlights this gender-specific link. Researchers at the University of Manchester led the study. They found no similar connection in men. The findings suggest a need for further investigation. Experts propose exploring hormonal and occupational factors.
I
n a world that never sleeps, humans, too, have adapted to live and work around the clock. Just like men, women often find themselves working odd shifts, including the night shift.
But guess what? Although such odd shifts may benefit their careers, they also come with numerous health risks. Women on night shifts are especially prone to illnesses. A new study found that women who work night shifts are more likely to suffer from asthma compared to those who work in the regular daytime.
Drawbacks of women working night shifts
The study is led by researchers at the University of Manchester, UK. The findings are published in the
ERJ Open Research.
The study involved more than 270,000 people and found that women working night shifts are more likely to suffer from moderate or severe asthma.
However, they found no such link between asthma and working night shifts in men.
Dr Robert Maidstone, the lead researcher, in a statement, said, 'Asthma disproportionately affects women. Women generally have more severe asthma, and a higher rate of hospitalisation and death from asthma compared to men. In our previous research, we found a higher risk of moderate or severe asthma in nightshift workers, so we wanted to see whether there were further differences between the sexes.'
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The study
To investigate the relationship between night shifts and asthma in women, the researchers utilized data from the UK Biobank. They looked at 274,541 working people and found that 5.3% of these had
asthma
, with 1.9% suffering from moderate or severe asthma (meaning they were taking an asthma preventer inhaler and at least one other asthma treatment, such as an oral steroid). The researchers divided the women into three categories - those who worked only during the day, only nightshifts, or a combination of the two.
What did they find
The findings were shocking. They found that women who work shifts are more likely to have asthma. Women who only work night shifts were around 50% more likely to suffer from moderate or severe asthma compared to those who work in the daytime.
'This is the first study to evaluate sex differences in the relationship between shift work and asthma. We found that permanent night shift workers had higher odds of moderate-severe asthma when compared to corresponding day workers.
This type of research cannot explain why shift work and asthma are linked; however, it could be because shift work disrupts the body clock, including the levels of male and female sex hormones.
High testosterone has previously been shown to be protective against asthma, and so lower testosterone in women could play a role. Alternatively, men and women work different types of shift jobs, and this could be a factor,' Dr Maidstone said.
The researchers also found that the risk was almost double in postmenopausal women, compared to day workers, in those not taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
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'Our results suggest that HRT might be protective against asthma for nightshift workers; however, further research is needed to test this hypothesis in prospective studies and randomised controlled trials,' Dr Maidstone added.
'Asthma is a common, long-term condition that affects millions of people worldwide. We know that women are more likely to have asthma, to have worse asthma, and are more likely to die from asthma, but we do not fully understand why. This research suggests that working night shifts could be a risk factor for asthma in women, but not in men. The majority of workers will not have an easy option of switching their shift pattern, so we need further research to verify and understand this link and find out what could be done to reduce the risk for women who work shifts,' Professor Florence Schleich from the European Respiratory Society's expert group on airway diseases, asthma, COPD and chronic cough, who is not part of the research commented.
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