Rotating night shift work and the risk of multiple sclerosis in nurses

A history of rotating night shift work for 20 or more years is associated with a 2.62-fold increased risk of definite multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in the NHSII cohort.

• No association was found between rotating night shift work and MS risk in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) for durations of 1-9 years or 10+ years.
• In the NHSII cohort, the risk of MS did not significantly increase for 1-9 years and 10-19 years of rotating night shift work.
• A significant association was observed in NHSII for those with a history of 20 or more years of rotating night shift work, indicating a potential risk for definite MS cases.
• The analysis included a total of 198,419 women and documented 579 incident physician-confirmed MS cases.

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