People who work 48 hours a week or more are likely to get drunk more heavily.

In a new study, researchers analyzed data of more than 430,000 people and found those who worked at least 49 hours a week were up to 13 percent more likely to engage in "risky alcohol use" than those who were on the job for only 35 to 40 hours a week.

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Heavy drinking consists of more than 14 drinks a week for women and more than 21 drinks a week for men. It makes people more vulnerable to a variety of health problems, including heart disease, stroke and cancer.

The survey noted one-third of workers said they've come to work with a hangover and 15 percent said they have been drunk on the job. The nature of the link between work hours and alcohol isn't clear, however.

The study analyzed people from 14 countries and 11 percent translates to two million people drinking heavily because of their jobs.

"The workplace is an important setting for the prevention of alcohol misuse, because more than half of the adult population are employed. Further research is needed to assess whether preventive interventions against risky alcohol use could benefit from information on working hours," wrote the team of researchers.

The study didn't answer why people who work more are more inclined to drink, but researchers have theories.

One is that drinking helped relieve stress brought on by stressful work conditions. Another is that hard-charging people naturally wind up in "work hard, play hard" situations.

Last is the possibility that people with sleep problems or who are depressed might require more hours to finish their work and be more inclined to drink.

The study was published in the journal, BMJ.

Tagsdrinking, health problem, long workweek, work overtime, binge drinking