Background

This study aimed to investigate whether working long hours was related to infertility among female Korean workers, while taking age into consideration.

Methods

We used data from the 2018 National Survey on Fertility and Family Health and Welfare in Korea that is a cross-sectional, nationally representative, and population-based survey. Infertility was defined as women who were not pregnant after regular unprotected intercourse for a year. Working long hours was classified as ≥52 hours, and subgroups as per age were classified on the basis of being younger or older than 40 years of age. Differences in infertility risk between the long working hour group and none were estimated in crude and fully adjusted logistic regression models with age-group stratification.

Results

Of 5,909 Korean female workers, the crude and adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of infertility for working long hours were 1.295 (0.948–1.737) and 1.303 (0.921–1.809), respectively. In the subgroup of patients below 40 years of age, the crude and adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) were 1.957 (1.216–3.039) and 1.921 (1.144–3.120), whereas those aged 40 years or older had 0.994 (0.647–1.471) and 0.939 (0.560–1.501), respectively. The weighted prevalence of infertility increased as weekly working hours increased only for the younger than 40-year subgroup.

Conclusions

Infertility is associated with working long hours, especially in young-aged workers. Thus, the working schedule must be structured to better suit young female workers.

中文翻译：

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长时间工作与不孕症的关系

背景

本研究旨在调查长时间工作是否与韩国女工的不孕症有关，同时考虑到年龄。

方法

我们使用了 2018 年韩国生育和家庭健康与福利全国调查的数据，该调查是一项横断面、具有全国代表性和以人口为基础的调查。不孕症被定义为在一年的定期无保护性交后没有怀孕的女性。长时间工作被归类为≥52 小时，根据年龄小于或大于 40 岁对亚组按年龄进行分类。使用年龄组分层的粗略和完全调整的逻辑回归模型估计了长时间工作组和无工作时间组之间的不孕风险差异。

结果

在 5,909 名韩国女工中，长时间工作不孕的粗略和调整优势比（95% 置信区间）分别为 1.295（0.948-1.737）和 1.303（0.921-1.809）。在 40 岁以下的患者亚组中，粗略和调整后的优势比（95% 置信区间）分别为 1.957（1.216-3.039）和 1.921（1.144-3.120），而 40 岁或以上的患者为 0.994（0.647- 1.471) 和 0.939 (0.560–1.501)，分别。仅在 40 岁以下的亚组中，随着每周工作时间的增加，不孕症的加权患病率增加。

结论

不孕症与长时间工作有关，尤其是在年轻工人中。因此，工作时间表的结构必须更好地适合年轻女工。