Long working hours and alcohol use: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data

TY - JOUR

T1 - Long working hours and alcohol use

T2 - systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data

AU - Virtanen, Marianna

AU - Jokela, Markus

AU - Nyberg, Solja T

AU - Madsen, Ida E H

AU - Lallukka, Tea

AU - Ahola, Kirsi

AU - Alfredsson, Lars

AU - Batty, G David

AU - Bjorner, Jakob B.

AU - Borritz, Marianne

AU - Burr, Hermann

AU - Casini, Annalisa

AU - Clays, Els

AU - De Bacquer, Dirk

AU - Dragano, Nico

AU - Erbel, Raimund

AU - Ferrie, Jane E

AU - Fransson, Eleonor I

AU - Hamer, Mark

AU - Heikkilä, Katriina

AU - Jöckel, Karl-Heinz

AU - Kittel, France

AU - Knutsson, Anders

AU - Koskenvuo, Markku

AU - Ladwig, Karl-Heinz

AU - Lunau, Thorsten

AU - Nielsen, Martin L.

AU - Nordin, Maria

AU - Oksanen, Tuula

AU - Pejtersen, Jan H

AU - Pentti, Jaana

AU - Rugulies, Reiner

AU - Salo, Paula

AU - Schupp, Jürgen

AU - Siegrist, Johannes

AU - Singh-Manoux, Archana

AU - Steptoe, Andrew

AU - Suominen, Sakari B

AU - Theorell, Töres

AU - Vahtera, Jussi

AU - Wagner, Gert G

AU - Westerholm, Peter J M

AU - Westerlund, Hugo

AU - Kivimäki, Mika

N1 - © Virtanen et al 2015.

PY - 2015/1/13

Y1 - 2015/1/13

N2 - OBJECTIVE: To quantify the association between long working hours and alcohol use.DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data.DATA SOURCES: A systematic search of PubMed and Embase databases in April 2014 for published studies, supplemented with manual searches. Unpublished individual participant data were obtained from 27 additional studies.REVIEW METHODS: The search strategy was designed to retrieve cross sectional and prospective studies of the association between long working hours and alcohol use. Summary estimates were obtained with random effects meta-analysis. Sources of heterogeneity were examined with meta-regression.RESULTS: Cross sectional analysis was based on 61 studies representing 333,693 participants from 14 countries. Prospective analysis was based on 20 studies representing 100,602 participants from nine countries. The pooled maximum adjusted odds ratio for the association between long working hours and alcohol use was 1.11 (95% confidence interval 1.05 to 1.18) in the cross sectional analysis of published and unpublished data. Odds ratio of new onset risky alcohol use was 1.12 (1.04 to 1.20) in the analysis of prospective published and unpublished data. In the 18 studies with individual participant data it was possible to assess the European Union Working Time Directive, which recommends an upper limit of 48 hours a week. Odds ratios of new onset risky alcohol use for those working 49-54 hours and ≥ 55 hours a week were 1.13 (1.02 to 1.26; adjusted difference in incidence 0.8 percentage points) and 1.12 (1.01 to 1.25; adjusted difference in incidence 0.7 percentage points), respectively, compared with working standard 35-40 hours (incidence of new onset risky alcohol use 6.2%). There was no difference in these associations between men and women or by age or socioeconomic groups, geographical regions, sample type (population based v occupational cohort), prevalence of risky alcohol use in the cohort, or sample attrition rate.CONCLUSIONS: Individuals whose working hours exceed standard recommendations are more likely to increase their alcohol use to levels that pose a health risk.

AB - OBJECTIVE: To quantify the association between long working hours and alcohol use.DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data.DATA SOURCES: A systematic search of PubMed and Embase databases in April 2014 for published studies, supplemented with manual searches. Unpublished individual participant data were obtained from 27 additional studies.REVIEW METHODS: The search strategy was designed to retrieve cross sectional and prospective studies of the association between long working hours and alcohol use. Summary estimates were obtained with random effects meta-analysis. Sources of heterogeneity were examined with meta-regression.RESULTS: Cross sectional analysis was based on 61 studies representing 333,693 participants from 14 countries. Prospective analysis was based on 20 studies representing 100,602 participants from nine countries. The pooled maximum adjusted odds ratio for the association between long working hours and alcohol use was 1.11 (95% confidence interval 1.05 to 1.18) in the cross sectional analysis of published and unpublished data. Odds ratio of new onset risky alcohol use was 1.12 (1.04 to 1.20) in the analysis of prospective published and unpublished data. In the 18 studies with individual participant data it was possible to assess the European Union Working Time Directive, which recommends an upper limit of 48 hours a week. Odds ratios of new onset risky alcohol use for those working 49-54 hours and ≥ 55 hours a week were 1.13 (1.02 to 1.26; adjusted difference in incidence 0.8 percentage points) and 1.12 (1.01 to 1.25; adjusted difference in incidence 0.7 percentage points), respectively, compared with working standard 35-40 hours (incidence of new onset risky alcohol use 6.2%). There was no difference in these associations between men and women or by age or socioeconomic groups, geographical regions, sample type (population based v occupational cohort), prevalence of risky alcohol use in the cohort, or sample attrition rate.CONCLUSIONS: Individuals whose working hours exceed standard recommendations are more likely to increase their alcohol use to levels that pose a health risk.

KW - Age Factors

KW - Alcohol Drinking

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Humans

KW - Odds Ratio

KW - Prevalence

KW - Prospective Studies

KW - Sex Factors

KW - Socioeconomic Factors

KW - Workload

U2 - 10.1136/bmj.g7772

DO - 10.1136/bmj.g7772

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25587065

SN - 0959-8146

VL - 350

SP - 1

EP - 14

JO - BMJ

JF - BMJ

ER -