Ann Occup Environ Med.  2019 ;31(1):e12. 10.35371/aoem.2019.31.e12.

Relationship between working hours and probability to take alopecia medicine among Korean male workers: a 4-year follow-up study

• Son KH
• Suh BS
• Jeong HS
• Nam MW
• Kim H
• Kim HC

• KMID: 2466056
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.35371/aoem.2019.31.e12

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Many studies have reported the negative effects of long working hours on various health problems. However, whether hair loss is associated with working hours has been rarely investigated so far. The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between long working hours and the development of alopecia among Korean male workers.
METHODS
A total of 13,391 male workers not to take alopecia medicine in 2013 were followed up to see if they have alopecia medicine after 4 years, and that was used to confirm the alopecia development. Weekly working hours were categorized into three groups: reference working hours (RWH; < 40 hours/week), long working hours (LWH, 40-52 hours/week), and much longer working hours (MLWH; > 52 hours/week). Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between long working hours and the development of alopecia after adjusting age, marital status, education, monthly household income, smoking, and work schedule within strata of the covariates.
RESULTS
Long working hours was significantly related to the development of alopecia. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for the development of alopecia were 1.57 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21-2.05) for LWH group and 1.74 (95% CI: 1.23-2.47) for MLWH group relative to RWH group.
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that unintentional development of alopecia is another potential health consequence of long working hours among Korean male workers. Preventive interventions to promote appropriate and reasonable working hours are required in our society.

Keyword

Alopecia; Long working hours; Occupational health; Male

MeSH Terms

Alopecia*
Appointments and Schedules
Education
Family Characteristics
Follow-Up Studies*
Hair
Humans
Logistic Models
Male*
Marital Status
Occupational Health
Odds Ratio
Smoke
Smoking
Smoke