According to researchers women who work night shifts for 30 or more years are twice as likely to develop breast cancer.

The study looked at 1134 women with breast cancer and 1179 without and they looked at each women’s job history and focussed on shift patterns along with hospital reports.

Around one in three women of both groups had worked night shifts and no evidence was found for women who worked night shifts between 15 and 29 years to link them to breast cancer.

But the study found that women who worked for 30 years or more on the night shift were twice as likely to increase the risk of breast cancer but the number of women this is was relatively small and the study would have to be done on a bigger scale to ensure the results are reliable.