A research review suggests that pregnant women that have day jobs are less likely to have a preterm delivery or suffer a miscarriage than mothers with working long hours or night shifts. The analysis found that pregnant women have a chance bigger with 21% to deliver preterm if they work night shifts or even have a miscarriage. The chances for the latter are 23% more in comparison with women who have a typical day job.
The risk of miscarriage increases by 38% and the one of preterm delivery by 21% if the mother works more than 40 hours weekly. These risks decrease when pregnant women work fixed day shifts or rotating shifts. However, their chances to develop preeclampsia, a dangerously high blood pressure, were 75% higher and 19% for just a higher one.
Preterm Delivery And Miscarriage Linked To Working Long Hours and Night Shifts During Pregnancy
According to the senior author of the study and a researcher at the University of Alberta in Canada, Margie Davenport, if the mother wants a better pregnancy outcome, she should avoid long working hours which means that she should work a maximum of 40 hours per week, as well as shift work. If pregnant women can’t change their work schedule, they should focus on improving aspects of their lives that they can control. For example, Davenport says that mothers should have an active lifestyle when they are not at work, maintain a healthy diet, sleep the recommended amount of hours, and eat nutritious food.
About 197,000 women were part of the 62 previously published studies that the researchers examined. The smaller studies aimed to see how different schedules of pregnant women can affect the outcome of the gestation and their babies as a whole. In conclusion, scientists admitted that there is a link between preterm delivery and miscarriage and working long hours and night shifts.
