Cardiometabolic multimorbidity is characterized by the simultaneous presence of two or more cardiometabolic conditions such as diabetes, stroke and coronary heart disease. It is rising in prevalence across the globe. Lifestyle factors play a significant role in transition of individuals from a healthy state to the first cardiometabolic disease and then to cardiometabolic multimorbidity with more diseases and death.¹

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has shown that hypertensive individuals who always work night shifts are at greater risk of developing a cardiometabolic multimorbidity.²

This population-based, prospective cohort study evaluated 36,939 hypertensive participants, aged 54-55 years (mean), from the UK Biobank to determine the relationship between shift work and the risk for cardiometabolic multimorbidity in them. The participants were categorized into four groups based on duration and frequency of night shifts: day workers, shift workers with some night shifts (1 to 10 night shifts every month), shift workers with usually/always night shifts (>10 night shifts per month) and shift workers with never/rarely night shifts.

The results showed that a total of 5935 participants developed a cardiometabolic multimorbidity over a follow-up period of 11.6 years (median). Compared to the dayworkers, the risk of CMM was 16% higher among the usually/always night shift workers with hazard ratio of 1.16. Among participants who worked more than 10 night shifts in a month, the risk of CMM was 19% higher with HR 1.19. These effects manifested more prominently among those with a morning chronotype who worked >10 shifts per month (HR 1.26) or among those who slept for less than 7 hours or more than 8 hours of sleep and reported more than 10 night shifts per month (HR 1.43).

According to the authors, this study has demonstrated for the first time the progression from hypertension to cardiometabolic multimorbidity among night shift workers. Those who usually worked night shifts or always worked night shifts were at the highest risk. “Intervention in work schedules might be one way to reduce susceptibility to cardiometabolic multimorbidity among patients with hypertension”, note the authors.²

References

1. Yuting Han, et al. Lifestyle, cardiometabolic disease, and multimorbidity in a prospective Chinese study. Eur Heart J. 2021 Sep 7;42(34):3374-3384.
2. Liu Yang, et al. Shift work and the risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity among patients with hypertension: a prospective cohort study of UK Biobank. J Am Heart Assoc. 2022 Sep 6;11(17):e025936.