A prospective cohort study of shift work and the risk of death from pancreatic cancer in Japanese men

Purpose There is mounting evidence that shift work involving night work increases cancer risk. We examined the relationship between working rotating shifts and the risk of death from pancreatic cancer on the basis of data from the Japanese Collaborative Cohort Study (JACC Study). Methods The present analysis was restricted to 22,224 men who were 40–65 years of age at baseline (1988–1990) and who reported working full time or were self-employed in the JACC Study. The subjects were followed through 31 December 2009. Information on occupation and lifestyle factors was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for the risk of death from pancreatic cancer in relation to shift work. Results During the follow-up period, 127 pancreatic cancer deaths were observed. Overall, we found no statistically significant increase in the risk of death from pancreatic cancer associated with rotating shift work. As compared to day-shift workers, the RRs were 0.83 (95 % CI 0.43–1.60) for rotating shift workers and 0.61 (95 % CI 0.22–1.60) for fixed night-shift workers, after adjustment for potential confounding factors. The multivariable-adjusted RR was 1.34 (95 % CI 0.66–2.75) among rotating shift workers in the analysis restricted to men who reported working full time at baseline. Conclusions Our data did not support the hypothesis that shift work is significantly associated with the risk of death from pancreatic cancer in this cohort of Japanese men.