Rotating Night Shifts and Risk of Breast Cancer in Women Participating in the Nurses' Health Study

Schernhammer, Eva; Laden, Francine; Speizer, Frank E.; Willett, Walter C.; Hunter, David J.; Kawachi, Ichiro; Colditz, Graham A.

doi:10.1093/jnci/93.20.1563

Cited by 954 publications

(684 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Studies fairly consistently report meaningful increases in breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women exposed to shift work (Pukkala et al, 1995;Tynes et al, 1996;Davis et al, 2001;Hansen, 2001;Rafnsson et al, 2001;Schernhammer et al, 2001). Two retrospective studies of flight attendants with occupational exposure to light at night linked the employment time to an increased risk of breast cancer (Pukkala et al, 1995;Rafnsson et al, 2001).…”

Section: Link Between Light At Night and Breast Cancer Risk Through Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two nationwide record linkage studies (Tynes et al, 1996;Hansen, 2001) and a retrospective case -control study (Davis et al, 2001) associated night work with an approximately 50% higher risk of breast cancer (Tynes et al, 1996;Hansen, 2001). Finally, the Nurses' Health Study, the only prospective study published that evaluated the association, observed a positive association of extended periods of rotating night work and breast cancer risk (more than 30 years of rotating night work: RR ¼ 1.36; 95% CI ¼ 1.04 -1.78) (Schernhammer et al, 2001). In this study, night work was defined as the total number of years during which the nurses had worked rotating night shifts with at least three nights per month, in addition to days and evenings in that month.…”

Section: Link Between Light At Night and Breast Cancer Risk Through Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Melatonin and cancer risk: does light at night compromise physiologic cancer protection by lowering serum melatonin levels?

2004

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The suprachiasmatic nuclei in the hypothalamus, one of the most important physiological determinants of alertness and performance, drive a circadian pacemaker in mammals, with an intrinsic period averaging 24 h. Light is the primary stimulus to the disruption and resetting of this pacemaker, which is expressed in changing melatonin rhythms. Melatonin production in humans decreases when people are exposed to light at night. Since melatonin shows potential oncostatic action in a variety of tumours, it is possible that lowered serum melatonin levels caused by exposure to light at night enhance the general tumour development. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in industrialised countries like the United States, where a significant proportion of workers engage in shift work, making a hypothesised relation between light exposure at night and cancer risk relevant. Observational studies support an association between night work and cancer risk. We hypothesise that the potential primary culprit for this observed association is the lack of melatonin, a cancer-protective agent whose production is severely diminished in people exposed to light at night.

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Section: Link Between Light At Night and Breast Cancer Risk Through Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Link Between Light At Night and Breast Cancer Risk Through Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Melatonin and cancer risk: does light at night compromise physiologic cancer protection by lowering serum melatonin levels?

2004

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“…Schernhammer et al (2001) and Davis et al (2001) showed that disruption of diurnal sleepwakefulness rhythms, especially through night-time shift work, was associated with higher subsequent breast cancer incidence. Studies by Parkin (2011) and Slack et al (2012) showed that an estimated 4-5% of female breast cancers in the UK are linked to shift work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of Breast Cancer with Sleep Pattern - A Pilot Case Control Study in a Regional Cancer Centre in South Asia

Datta

Roy²,

Nanda³

et al. 2014

Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention

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The rising trend of breast cancer both in developed and developing countries is a real threat challenging all efforts to screening, prevention and treatment aspects to reduce its impact. In spite of modern preventive strategies, the upward trend of breast cancer has become a matter of great concern in both developed and developing countries. Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute is a premier regional cancer institute in eastern region of India catering to a large number of cancer patients every year. A pilot case control study of fifty breast cancer patients and 100 matched controls was conducted during 2013 to evaluate the effects of habitual factors like working in night shift, not having adequate sleep, and not sleeping in total darkness on breast cancer of women. The study revealed that not sleeping in total darkness was associated with higher odds of outcome of breast cancer of women. This positive correlation can play a vital role in formulation of preventive strategies through life style modification.

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“…Circadian rhythm disruptions can lead to depression, obesity and higher incidences of cancer [6][7][8][9][10] while normal rhythms control the sensitivity of an organism to drugs of abuse [11][12][13]. In other words, circadian rhythms are very important for the normal well-being of an animal because they enable an organism to anticipate and respond to environmental changes before they happen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day: circadian timekeeping in Drosophila

Collins

Blau

2007

Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol

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"Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and for once I'm inclined to believe Withnail is right. We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell... What we need is harmony. Fresh air. Stuff like that." Bruce Robinson (1986, ref. 1). Although a stopped Drosophila clock probably does not tell the right time even once a day, recent findings have demonstrated that accurate circadian time-keeping is dependent on harmony between groups of clock neurons within the brain. Furthermore, when harmony between the environment and the endogenous clock is lost, as during jet lag, we definitely feel unwell. In this review, we provide an overview of the current understanding of circadian rhythms in Drosophila, focussing on recent discoveries that demonstrate how approximately 100 neurons within the Drosophila brain control the behaviour of the whole fly, and how these rhythms respond to the environment.

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Rotating Night Shifts and Risk of Breast Cancer in Women Participating in the Nurses' Health Study

Abstract: Women who work on rotating night shifts with at least three nights per month, in addition to days and evenings in that month, appear to have a moderately increased risk of breast cancer after extended periods of working rotating night shifts.

Cited by 954 publications

References 52 publications

Melatonin and cancer risk: does light at night compromise physiologic cancer protection by lowering serum melatonin levels?

Melatonin and cancer risk: does light at night compromise physiologic cancer protection by lowering serum melatonin levels?

Association of Breast Cancer with Sleep Pattern - A Pilot Case Control Study in a Regional Cancer Centre in South Asia

Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day: circadian timekeeping in Drosophila

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