Objective: This study aimed to determine if there is an increased risk of incident cardiovascular diseases (CVD) resulting from cumulative night shift work in the German population-based Gutenberg Health Study (GHS).

Methods: We examined working participants of the GHS at baseline and after five years. Cumulative night shift work in the 10 years before baseline was assessed and categorized as low (1–220 nights ≙ up to 1 year), middle (221–660 nights ≙ 1–3 years), and high (>660 nights ≙ more than 3 years) night shift exposure. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated for incident “quality-assured CVD events” using Cox proportional hazard models.

Results: At baseline, 1092 of 8167 working participants performed night shift work. During the follow-up, 202 incident cardiovascular events occurred. The crude incidence rates for CVD per 1000 person-years were 6.88 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.80–9.55] for night shift workers and 5.19 (95% CI 4.44–6.04) for day workers. Cumulative incidence curves showed a higher cumulative incidence in workers exposed to night shift work compared to day workers after five years. The adjusted HR for incident CVD events were 1.26 (95% CI 0.68–2.33), 1.37 (95% CI 0.74–2.53) and 1.19 (95% CI 0.67–2.12) for employees in the low, middle and high night shift categories compared to employees without night shift work, respectively.

Conclusions: The observed tendencies indicate that night shift work might be negatively associated with cardiovascular health. We expect the continued follow-up will clarify the long-term impact of night shift work.

This article is published online in the "Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health" (2024).