Female employees working more than 70 hours a week were 1.66 times more likely to suffer a miscarriage than those working 50 hours or less. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Female workers working more than 70 hours per week are 1.7 times more likely to suffer a miscarriage than those who work fewer than 50 hours a week.
A research team led by Prof. Lee Jun-hee from Soonchunhyang University Hospital Seoul and Prof. Lee Wan-hyung from Gachon University Gil Medical Center conducted a study on 4,078 female workers over 19 years of age, 5.7 percent of whom said they had suffered a miscarriage.
The research team divided the participants by workweeks of 50 hours or less, 51 to 60 hours, 61 to 70 hours, and 70 hours or more for comparison.
The study used a 52-hour workweek system that allows employees to exceed the 40-hour workweek by 12 hours.
The results showed that 9.8 percent of female workers working more than 70 hours per week suffered a miscarriage, while only 4.9 percent of those working fewer than 50 hours a week went through a similar experience.
Female employees working more than 70 hours a week were 1.66 times more likely to suffer a miscarriage than those working 50 hours or less, even after controlling outside variables such as age, smoking, drinking, obesity, and others.
Women working 61 to 70 hours a week were also 1.56 times more likely to suffer a miscarriage compared to those working 50 hours or less.
“It is now academically proven that longer working hours can lead to higher chance of a miscarriage,” said Lee.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
