Impact of Long Working Hours and Shift Work on Unmet Health Care Need Among Korean Workers

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to identify work-related risk factors, including long working hours and night/shift work, for unmet health care need using data of a representative panel of Korean adults. METHODS: Associations between work-related factors and unmet health care need were analyzed using data of 3,440 participants (10,320 observations) from the 2011-2013 Korean Health Panel Study. A generalized estimating equation was used for the analysis of repeated measures. RESULTS: The prevalence of unmet health care was 16.6%. After adjusting sex, age, socioeconomic status, work characteristics, and working more than 60 hours per week (odds ratio [OR]: 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.23–1.65) or 50–59 hours per week (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.08–1.46) instead of 40–49 hours per week and night/shift work (OR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.06–1.51) were associated with unmet health care need. CONCLUSION: Long working hours and night/shift work are risk factors for unmet health care need among the Korean working population.