A team led by epidemiologist Marianna Virtanen – from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and University College London – has found that people who regularly do overtime at work are at greater risk of dying from heart disease.

The researchers studied more than 6,000 civil servants in the UK and found those who regularly worked 11-12 hour days had a 56 to 60 per cent increased risk of developing heart disease and dying as a result, compared with workers who did not do overtime.

The risk was associated with working an extra three to four hours a day on top of a normal seven-hour working day.

Those participating in the study were aged between 39 and 61 years. They were followed for 11 years and researchers evaluated the risk of them developing heart disease – such as angina or a heart attack – or dying from it.

The researchers found that a total of 369 of those participating developed a form of heart disease, including angina, or which led to a heart attack or a fatal outcome.

The team took into account age and lifestyle factors such as smoking or being overweight.

Lead researcher Marianna Virtanen said:

‘The association between long hours and coronary heart disease was independent of a range of risk factors that we measured at the start of the study, such as smoking, being overweight or having high cholesterol.’

The findings of the research are published in the European Heart Journal.

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