PT Journal AU Virtanen­, M Jokela, M Madsen, IEH Magnusson Hanson, LL Lallukka, T Nyberg, ST Alfredsson, L Batty, GD Bjorner, JB Borritz, M Burr, H Dragano, N Erbel, R Ferrie, JE Heikkilä, K Knutsson, A Koskenvuo, M Lahelma, E Nielsen, ML Oksanen, T Pejtersen, JH Pentti, J Rahkonen, O Rugulies, R Salo, P Schupp, J Shipley, MJ Siegrist, J Singh-Manoux, A Suominen, SB Theorell, T Vahtera, J Wagner, GG Wang, JL Yiengprugsawan, V Westerlund, H Kivimäki, M TI Long working hours and depressive symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data SO Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health PD 5VL PY 2018 BP 239 EP 250 IS 3 DI 10.5271/sjweh.3712 WP https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=3712 DE depression; depressive symptom; mental health; meta-analysis; overtime; participant data; psychological distress; systematic review; working hour; working life; working time SN 0355-3140 AB '

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OBJECTIVES ': 'This systematic review and meta-analysis combined published study-level data and unpublished individual-participant data with the aim of quantifying the relation between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms.

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METHODS ': 'We searched PubMed and Embase for published prospective cohort studies and included available cohorts with unpublished individual-participant data. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to calculate summary estimates across studies.

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RESULTS ': 'We identified ten published cohort studies and included unpublished individual-participant data from 18 studies. In the majority of cohorts, long working hours was defined as working ≥55 hours per week. In multivariable-adjusted meta-analyses of 189 729 participants from 35 countries [96 275 men, 93 454 women, follow-up ranging from 1–5 years, 21 747 new-onset cases), there was an overall association of 1.14 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03–1.25] between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms, with significant evidence of heterogeneity (I2=45.1%, P=0.004). A moderate association between working hours and depressive symptoms was found in Asian countries (1.50, 95% CI 1.13–2.01), a weaker association in Europe (1.11, 95% CI 1.00–1.22), and no association in North America (0.97, 95% CI 0.70–1.34) or Australia (0.95, 95% CI 0.70–1.29). Differences by other characteristics were small.

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CONCLUSIONS ': 'This observational evidence suggests a moderate association between long working hours and onset of depressive symptoms in Asia and a small association in Europe.

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