A Survey of Shift Work and Work Ability Index among Nurses: A Case Study in Educational Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran

Shift work is a social phenomenon with adverse effects on the lives and health of people in various aspects. This adverse effect decreases shift workers’ ability over a time period. The aim of the present study was to survey disturbances due to shift work and some disorders associated with work ability index among nurses in educational hospitals, Ahvaz, Iran. This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 33 nurses at the Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran. The survey of shift workers questionnaire (SOS) and the Work Ability Index (WAI) questionnaire was used as data collection tools. The related data was analyzed based on the descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation test, and Spearman correlation test using IBM SPSS software version 19. The results showed that 97% of problems related to the effects of shift work on the individuals’ lives, families, and musculoskeletal disorders, 87.9% related to insomnia and social problems, and 75.8% related to mental disorders. Although it showed a significant relationship between the workability index with the variable of experience and mental disorders, it showed no significant relationship between the prevalence of insomnia and musculoskeletal disorders variables. The results of this study showed that shift working disrupts mental, social, and physical health that ultimately adversely affect the ability of shift workers. Therefore, it was recommended to adjust working hours and allocate the appropriate shifts to improve the workability of individuals.

A Simulated Shift Work Schedule Does Not Increase DNA Double-Strand Break Repair by NHEJ in the Drosophila Rr3 System

Long-term shift work is widely believed to increase the risk of certain cancers, but conflicting findings between studies render this association unclear. Evidence of interplay between the circadian clock, cell cycle regulation, and DNA damage detection machinery suggests the possibility that circadian rhythm disruption consequent to shift work could alter the DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair pathway usage to favor mutagenic non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) repair. To test this hypothesis, we compared relative usage of NHEJ and single-strand annealing (SSA) repair of a complementary ended chromosomal double-stranded break using the Repair Reporter 3 (Rr3) system in Drosophila between flies reared on 12:12 and 8:8 (simulated shift work) light:dark schedules. Actimetric analysis showed that the 8:8 light:dark schedule effectively disrupted the rhythms in locomotor output. Inaccurate NHEJ repair was not a frequent outcome in this system overall, and no significant difference was seen in the usage of NHEJ or SSA repair between the control and simulated shift work schedules. We conclude that this circadian disruption regimen does not alter the usage of mutagenic NHEJ DSB repair in the Drosophila male pre-meiotic germline, in the context of the Rr3 system.

Night shift work and lymphoma: results from an Italian multicentre case–control study

BackgroundNight shift work can disrupt circadian rhythm and cause chronic sleep deprivation, which might increase the risk of lymphoma through immunosuppression and oxidative stress.Material and methodsWe investigated the association between night shift work and risk of lymphoma subtypes in 867 incident cases and 774 controls, who participated in a multicentre Italian study between 2011 and 2017. Based on questionnaire information, occupational experts assessed the lifetime probability of night shift work, the total number of night shifts and years of night shift work among study participants. OR and 95% CI for lymphoma and its major subtypes associated with night shift work was calculated with logistic regression, adjusting by age, gender, education, study area, marital status and family history of haemolymphatic cancer.ResultsEver working night shifts was associated with an increase in the risk of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.14 to 3.32), which was highest after a 15–34 years latency. However, there was not a linear increase in risk by probability of exposure, years of night shift work, nor lifetime number of night shifts whether under rotating or permanent work schedules. Risk of lymphoma overall, B cell lymphoma (BCL), its major subtypes other than CLL, and other less prevalent BCL subtypes combined did not show an association.ConclusionsWe found conflicting evidence of an association between night shift work and the risk of CLL. We did not observe an association with other lymphoma subtypes.

Social jetlag and sleep debts are altered in different rosters of night shift work

Background Night and shift work are suspected to cause various adverse effects on health and sleep. Sleep deprivation through shift work is assumed to be compensated on free days. So far it is not clear how different shift systems and shift lengths affect sleep structure on work and free days. Especially working night shifts disrupts the circadian rhythm but also extended working hours (12h) might affect sleep characteristics. Hitherto, the magnitude of sleep debt, social jetlag, and Locomotor Inactivity During Sleep (LIDS) in different shift systems is unknown. Methods Here, we investigated the impact of five different shift rosters on sleep in 129 industrial workers from Germany. Permanent night work with multiple shift systems with and without night shifts and with different shift lengths were compared. Wrist-activity was monitored over 28 days revealing sleep on- and offsets as well as LIDS as proxy for sleep quality. Overall, 3,865 sleep bouts comprising 22,310 hours of sleep were examined. Results The mean daily age-adjusted sleep duration (including naps) was 6:43h and did not differ between shift workers of different rosters. However, sleep duration on workdays was particularly low in rotational shift systems with 12h-shifts (5:00h), while overall sleep debt was highest. Shift workers showed a median absolute social jetlag of 3:03h, which differed considerably between shift types and rosters (p<0.0001). Permanent night workers had the highest social jetlag (5:08h) and latest mid-sleeps on workdays and free days. Sleep quality was reduced in permanent night shift workers compared with shift workers in other rosters and differed between daytime and nighttime sleep. Conclusions Shift work leads to partial sleep deprivation, which particularly affects workers in 12h-shifts and permanent night shifts. Working these shifts resulted in higher sleep debts and larger absolute social jetlag whereas sleep quality was especially reduced in permanent night shift workers compared with shift workers of other rosters.

Assessment of Shift Work and Its Health Related Behaviors Among Employees of Petrochemical Company, Saudi Arabia, 2021 (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Shift work has been reported to lead to adverse health effects and is receiving increased attention. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to understand the relationship between shift work schedules and health behaviours among day-shift workers and rotating day-evening-shift workers and to detect the difference between day-shift work or fixed day-shift and rotating day-evening-shift employees. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among employees of Petrochemical Company during 2021. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. It consisted of two parts demographic data and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). RESULTS Out of 126 employees, 58 (46.0%) were from group age 41-50 years, 55 (43.7%) were overweight and 41 (32.5%) were obese, 38 (30.2%) were smokers, 99 (78.6%) worked in fixed shift. Two thirds 94 (74.6%) reported 6-8 sleeping hours per day, where 41 (32.5%) reported that they were satisfactory about overall quality of sleep and 40 (31.7%) were somewhat unsatisfactory, 62 (49.2%) reported “playing regular moderate to vigorous exercise”. There was no significant relation between shifts type and general health status (p =0.122). There was a significant association between shift types and the following ; age, BMI, education, nationality, household income, Working experience, Chronic diseases, Frequency of shift work, and Overall amount of sleep per day (p<0.0001, p0.017, p=0.027, p<0.0001, p0.042, p=0.002, p=0.024, p<0.0001, and p=0.044). CONCLUSIONS In the current study, rotating shifts were associated with extra sleeping hours, normal weight and having exercise. There was no significant differences in general health between workers in different shift schedules. Further studies need to be conducted to gather more information in order to decrease the additional health burden allied to non-standard work-schedules.

Disturbance of the Circadian System in Shift Work and Its Health Impact

The various non-standard schedules required of shift workers force abrupt changes in the timing of sleep and light-dark exposure. These changes result in disturbances of the endogenous circadian system and its misalignment with the environment. Simulated night-shift experiments and field-based studies with shift workers both indicate that the circadian system is resistant to adaptation from a day- to a night-oriented schedule, as determined by a lack of substantial phase shifts over multiple days in centrally controlled rhythms, such as those of melatonin and cortisol. There is evidence that disruption of the circadian system caused by night-shift work results not only in a misalignment between the circadian system and the external light-dark cycle, but also in a state of internal desynchronization between various levels of the circadian system. This is the case between rhythms controlled by the central circadian pacemaker and clock genes expression in tissues such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells, hair follicle cells, and oral mucosa cells. The disruptive effects of atypical work schedules extend beyond the expression profile of canonical circadian clock genes and affects other transcripts of the human genome. In general, after several days of living at night, most rhythmic transcripts in the human genome remain adjusted to a day-oriented schedule, with dampened group amplitudes. In contrast to circadian clock genes and rhythmic transcripts, metabolomics studies revealed that most metabolites shift by several hours when working nights, thus leading to their misalignment with the circadian system. Altogether, these circadian and sleep-wake disturbances emphasize the all-encompassing impact of night-shift work, and can contribute to the increased risk of various medical conditions. Here, we review the latest scientific evidence regarding the effects of atypical work schedules on the circadian system, sleep and alertness of shift-working populations, and discuss their potential clinical impacts.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF SHIFT WORK DISORDER QUESTIONNAIRE AMONG INDONESIAN FEMALE NURSES

Nurses on shift work experience several symptoms such as excessive sleep, insomnia, feeling tired and fatigue. This situation could be inimical to health, and lead to the conditions known as shift work disorder (SWD). A tool is needed to measure shift work disorder among shift work nurses. It can be used to understand the ailment, and support strategies to prevent it. The aim of this study was to adapt SWD questionnaire for use in Bahasa. The study was a cross-sectional study among 201 female nurses who worked on shift duties at public hospital from March to April 2020. The questionnaires were self-administered via an online platform. SWD questionnaire was measured using three questions from previous study. It was used to measure sleep disorder related to work schedule. Permission to use this questionnaire was granted by original author. The process of translation and adaptation SWD questionnaire based on WHO studies. Cronbach alpha was used to measure internal consistency reliability. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal axis factor to examine construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess the structural model fit of SWD. The cronbach alpha for SWD questionnaire was 0.834, which indicated adequate reliability. All of the items in SWD questionnaire had factor loading greater than 0.32, and the CR and AVE of SWD questionnaire were 0.951 and 0.751, which indicated good convergent validity. This study validates the psychometric properties of SWD questionnaire among Indonesia Female Nurses, including translation, validity, and reliability.