Chronobiology internationalMar 27, 2025

Longer night shift work is linked to higher cancer risk: A genetic study across many cancer types

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 25, 2026

Abstract

A suggestive causal association was found between night shift work duration and risks of cervical and gastric cancer.

Night shift work may be linked to an increased risk of cervical cancer based on genetic data.
A potential association with gastric cancer was also observed in relation to night shift work duration.
No significant associations were found for the other 11 common cancers examined.
The study utilized two-sample Mendelian randomization to investigate these associations.
Genetic variants related to night shift work were identified from the UK Biobank.

Simplified

Night shift work (NSW) has been associated with cancer risk in animal studies, but epidemiological evidence remains insufficient and contradictory. This study sought to investigate the causal association between NSW and 13 common cancers using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study. Genetic variants associated with NSW were extracted from the UK Biobank and selected as instrumental variables (IVs). Genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for 13 cancers were obtained from relevant consortia and biobanks. Causality was estimated using inverse-variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, and weighted median (WM). Sensitivity analyses, including MR-Egger intercept tests, MR-PRESSO, leave-one-out analyses, and funnel plots, were conducted to detect pleiotropy and heterogeneity. A suggestive causal association was found between NSW duration and risks of cervical (IVW:= 0.028) and gastric cancer (IVW:= 0.011). No significant associations were observed for other cancers (> 0.05). These findings suggest the need to reduce NSW duration and limit nocturnal light exposure to maintain circadian rhythms and mitigate cancer risks. p p p

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Longer night shift work is linked to higher cancer risk: A genetic study across many cancer types

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