Current work hours and coronary artery calcification (CAC): The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Background Long work hours may be associated with adverse outcomes, including cardiovascular disease. We investigated cross-sectional associations of current work hours with coronary artery calcification (CAC). Methods Participants (n = 3046; 54.6% men) were from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. The number of hours worked in all jobs was obtained by questionnaire and CAC from computed tomography. The probability of a positive CAC score was modeled using log-binomial regression. Positive scores were modeled using analysis of covariance and linear regression. Results Sixteen percent of the sample worked over 50 hours per week. The overall geometric mean CAC score was 5.2 +/- 10.0; 40% had positive scores. In fully-adjusted models, prevalence ratios were less than 40 hours: 1.00 (confidence interval [CI]: 0.88-1.12), 40:(ref), 41 to 49:1.13 (CI: 0.99-1.30), and >= 50:1.07 (CI: 0.94-1.23) and longer current work hours were not associated with higher mean CAC scores (<40:56.0 [CI: 47.3-66.3], 40:57.8 [CI: 45.6-73.3], 41 to 49:59.2 [CI: 45.2-77.6], >= 50:51.2 [CI: 40.5-64.8]; P = .686). Conclusions Current work hours were not independently associated with CAC scores.