The same study involving some 8,000 regular and irregular working males and females however confirmed that women are more prone to health risks as compared to men.
The range of health conditions include heart diseases, breast cancer and peptic ulcer, with stress, hormonal disturbances, smoking, weight and lack of sleep as contributing factors cited.
"It is therefore not surprising if the incidence of disability requirement is higher among shift workers, but we have no knowledge about why women should be more vulnerable to shift work than men as out study suggests," said report author, Dr. Finn Tuchsen.
Dr. Phil Tucker of Swansea University for his part explained, "Women are much more likely to come home to domestic work, and the strain of this combined with what we already know about the impact of shift work could explain the findings."
"Shift work" in this study was defined as anyone whose hours regularly changed or who worked fixed evening and night work.
Along with changing economy and advancement in technologies, most people around the world are resorting to "shift work" given higher payroll and more flexible timetable.
