Watch CBS News

Study: More Heart Disease, Cancer Cases In Women Working Long Hours

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new study suggests women who work long hours may be more inclined to develop chronic diseases.

A team of researchers from The Ohio State University looked at the number of hours worked each week by more than 7,000 men and women who were at least age 40 years old in 1998.

Allard Dembe, a professor of health sciences and management policy at the college, led the study. He averaged self-reported hours worked each week over 32 years and compared it to the incidence of eight chronic diseases found among each gender.

Dembe and his colleagues found a strong connection between women who worked long hours (51 or more a week) with higher rates of heart disease, cancer, arthritis and diabetes.

This was different from men who worked long hours who only showed a higher incidence of arthritis. In fact, the data showed that men who worked moderately long hours (41 to 50 hours a week), actually had a lower risk of heart disease, lung disease and depression compared to men who worked fewer than 40 hours.

The additional household work women put in each week could be a factor in the discrepancy. According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics' Annual Time Use Survey, 83 % of women reported they did daily household activities like cooking and cleaning in 2014 compared to 63 percent of men.

Dembe's study was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979.

Since the analysis only included Americans born between 1957 and 1964, it will be interesting to see if the pattern will continue for younger generations.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.