This is evident from one analysis of the World Health Organization (WHO) with the International Labor Organization (ILO).
A working week of more than 55 hours is quite rare for Europeans, only 3.5 percent of them work such working weeks, but it is more common in other parts of the world. The WHO advocates shorter working weeks in countries where many people work too long.
In the years analyzed, the researchers saw a worldwide increase in the number of hours worked. In 2000 8.1 percent of the world’s population worked more than 55 hours, in 2016 this had increased to 8.9 percent.
The researchers believe that this trend will continue, due to the increase in the number of flex workers, but also under the influence of the corona pandemic. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, said in a statement: “Working from home has become the norm, blurring the line between work and private life. In addition, many companies have to save money by, for example, firing employees, so that the remaining people take on more working hours’.
The number of work-related deaths from cardiovascular disease increased by 29 percent in the period 2000-2016. Southeast Asia has the largest share, with around 320,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease due to long working weeks, according to WHO estimates.
The researchers had data from 194 countries available for the years 2000, 2010 and 2016. For each country they calculated how many people die or lose years of life in good health due to cardiovascular disease. Working for a long time leads to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease due to a stress response in the body. Moreover, people who work long working weeks relatively often have an unhealthy lifestyle, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy food and little exercise.
Greatest occupational risk
Long working weeks appear to cause the greatest disease burden of all occupational risks calculated so far, according to WHO. Other work-related risk factors include lifting heavy items or the presence of carcinogenic substances in the work environment. Men in particular suffer from cardiovascular disease as a result of long working weeks.
The type of work may also influence the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, the researchers write. For example, the link between long working weeks and cardiovascular disease could mainly occur in lower socio-economic classes, but this still needs to be investigated further.
Hugo ten Cate, professor of vascular medicine at UMC Maastricht, thinks it is a thorough analysis of the research available worldwide. ‘All in all, this provides sufficient evidence that some cardiovascular diseases can be attributed to working too many hours.’
The effects of corona have not been included in the WHO analysis. Ten Cate: ‘I can imagine that if you no longer go to the office at fixed times, the working hours at home will get out of hand more quickly.’
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