Long working hours and risk of cardiovascular outcomes and diabetes type II: five-year follow-up of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS)

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to determine if there was an increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes and an increase in arterial stiffness in participants who reported working 41–54 h per week and more than 55 h compared to those who worked 40 h or less over a time interval of 5 years. METHODS: In a subsample of the population-based prospective Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) study, we examined working participants younger than 65 years at baseline (n = 7241) and after 5 years. To test the association of working time at baseline and incident cardiovascular events and diabetes type II, we estimated hazard ratios (HR) using competing risks models. For a change in the arterial stiffness index (SI) based on assessment using a Pulse Trace PCA2 device, we used multivariate linear regression models. RESULTS: The SI increased in those working more than 55 h per week (beta coefficiant = 0.32 m/s (95% CI 0.07–0.58) compared to those working 40 h and less after adjustment for sex, age and SES. Due to small numbers there was no significant association of working hours and clinically manifest cardiovascular events and diabetes type II in the 5-year follow-up time. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies are needed to confirm the results on working hours and arterial stiffness. Analyses of the 10-year follow-up with more events may clarify the results for incident cardiovascular events and metabolic outcomes. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00420-021-01786-9.