Working 55 hours or more per week as opposed to the standard 35-40-hour working week increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 13 per cent, a new study claims.

The study, published in The Lancet, followed over 600,000 individuals from Europe, the US and Australia for an average of 8.5 years. The findings also revealed a 33 per cent increased risk of having a stroke in those who undertook a longer working week, even after taking into account factors such as age, sex and socioeconomic status.

These findings also remained consistent after considering certain health behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, as well as standard cardiovascular risk factors including high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

^{The full report in The Lancet can be found here}