COLUMBUS – Women who put in long hours for the bulk of their careers may pay a steep price, according to a study from Ohio State.
After studying research on the long-term health effects of working, the OSU study found that when women work an average of 60 hours per week or more over three decades, they triple their risk of diabetes, cancer, heart trouble and arthritis, said Allard Dembe, professor of health services management and policy and lead author of the study.
The risk begins to climb when women put in more than 40 hours and takes a decidedly bad turn above 50 hours, said Dembe’s study, published online this week in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The same did not hold true for men, however, who appear to thrive when they work an average of more than 40 hours per week, but less than 50, Dember said.
Previous research showed that women tend to take on the lion’s share of family responsibility and may face more pressure and stress than men when they work long hours, he said.
Women – especially women who have to juggle multiple roles – feel the effects of intensive work experiences and that can set the table for a variety of illnesses and disability,” Dembe said.
Men who worked long hours had a higher incidence of arthritis, but none of the other chronic diseases, and those who worked 41 to 50 hours had lower risk of heart disease, lung disease and depression than those who worked 40 hours or fewer.
the researchers, who analyzed data from interviews with almost 7,500 people who were part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 , which includes interviews with more than 12,000 Americans born between 1957 and 1964.