Hi all

The latest stats from the HSE say that one of the biggest causes of occupational cancer is Brest cancer from shift work. I have no doubts that there is a link between lots of cancers and shift work but I'd like to know how specifically the HSE could were able to specifically identify shift work as the cause of Brest cancer?

I'm no expert in this area. Perhaps a more specific reference is this Research Report that looked at shift work and breast cancer
http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr132.htm

NB: This report only talked of an association that was "appreciable but not definitive".

We should be careful about "translating" reports of an association or correlation between shift work and cancer into a causative relationship. All the possible confounding factors such as lifestyle, diet, environment, family history etc must be ruled out for starters. Then it will be necessary to propose some mechanism - for example, taking the Danish airlines stewardesses, were they expoosed to an excess of solar radiation that initiated cell change that then resulted in cancer? Then such a hypothesis would need to be tested.

If that were the case - for example - then that mechnism would be diffiuclt to apply to, say, nurses who worked shifts.
Phil

The HSE report about occupational ill-health statistics that I read suggested: not very specifically at all. There appears to be a link but its nature and even existence is still uncertain. The breast cancer figures due to shiftwork were acknowledged as little more than a guess.