ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2019
Shift work, DNA methylation and epigenetic age.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Epigenetic markers of adverse lifestyle identified among evening and night shift workers in two UK population-based studies: Generation Scotland and Understanding Society.Chronobiology international · 2025Pooled it
- Longitudinal associations of DNA methylation and sleep in children: a meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2022Pooled it
- Epigenetic Insights and Exosome-Based Therapeutics for Insomnia: Bridging Sleep Biology and Precision Medicine.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Associations of eating duration and shift work with accelerated biological aging among U.S. workers.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2026Article
- Twenty-Four-Hour Rest-Activity Rhythms and Epigenetic Age Acceleration in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Night shift work and breast cancer: from etiopathology to precision risk analysis.NPJ breast cancer · 2025Review
- Associations between shift work and biological age acceleration: A population-based study.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Sleep disturbances, shift work, and epigenetic ageing in working-age adults: findings from the Young Finns study.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- Review
- Telomere length and chronotype among women in the California Teachers Study (CTS).Chronobiology international · 2024Article
- Review
- The Impact of Night Work on the Sleep and Health of Medical Staff-A Review of the Latest Scientific Reports.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Investigating the Relationship between Epigenetic Age and Cardiovascular Risk in a Population with Overweight/Obesity.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Association between maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and offspring epigenetic aging at 3-5 weeks.Annals of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Uncovering Forensic Evidence: A Path to Age Estimation through DNA Methylation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Article
- Occupational characteristics and epigenetic aging among older adults in the United States.Epigenetics · 2023Article
- Changes in methylation-based aging in women who do and do not develop breast cancer.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2023Article
- Objective and subjective measures of sleep initiation are differentially associated with DNA methylation in adolescents.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Article
- BPIFB4 and its longevity-associated haplotype protect from cardiac ischemia in humans and mice.Cell death & disease · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundShift work has been associated with increased risk of age-related morbidity and mortality. Biological age, estimated using DNA methylation (DNAm), may quantify the biological consequences of shift work on the risk of age-related disease. We examined whether prior employment in shift-working occupations was associated with epigenetic age acceleration.
methodsIn a sample of non-Hispanic White women aged 35-74 (n = 2574), we measured DNAm using the Illumina Infinium Human450 BeadChip and calculated DNAm age using three established epigenetic clocks. Age-acceleration metrics were derived by regressing DNAm age on chronological age and predicting the residuals. Using linear regression, we estimated associations between shift work history and age acceleration. We also conducted an epigenome-wide association study using robust linear-regression models corrected with false discovery rate (FDR) q-values.
resultsApproximately 7% of women reported any shift work. Higher age acceleration was observed for a 1-year increase in overall [β = 0.11, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.02-0.21] and night-specific shift work (β = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.03-0.21). The association was strongest for ≥10 years of night shift work (β = 3.16, 95% CI: 1.17-5.15). From the epigenome-wide association study, years of overall and night shift work were associated with DNAm at 66 and 85 CpG sites (FDR < 0.05), respectively. Years of night shift work was associated with lower methylation of a CpG in the gene body of ZFHX3 (cg04994202, q = 0.04), a gene related to circadian rhythm.
conclusionsShift work was associated with differential CpG site methylation and with differential DNAm patterns, measured by epigenetic age acceleration, consistent with long-term negative health effects.
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