Abstract
Epidemiological studies investigating mental-health-related sickness absence (SA) among shift workers are lacking. This 10-year observational study investigated the risk of mental health SA among shift compared with day workers. The data of 5826 male production workers were used for analyses: 4288 (74%) shift and 1538 (26%) day workers. The risk of mental health SA was analyzed with Cox regression analysis. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were adjusted for age and occupational grade. During a 10-year follow-up, 351 shift workers and 126 day workers had incident mental health SA. The risk of mental health SA did not differ (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.84-1.26) between shift and day workers. Among shift workers, the risk of SA due to mood disorders (HR 1.87, 95% CI 0.73-4.76) was non-significantly higher than among day workers. A total of 96 shift workers and 21 day workers had recurrent mental health SA. The risk of recurrent mental health SA did not differ (HR 1.04, 95% CI 0.62-1.74) between shift and day workers. The risk of incident and recurrent mental health SA did not differ between shift and day workers.
Highlights
The risk of incident and recurrent mental health sickness absence (SA) did not differ between shift and day workers
In today’s Western societies, only a quarter of the labor force works regular 9–5 office hours, while the remainder is engaged in shift work or has irregular work hours [1]
Some neuroendocrine mechanisms may contribute to depressed mood among shift workers
Summary
Epidemiological studies investigating mental-health-related sickness absence (SA) among shift workers are lacking. This 10-year observational study investigated the risk of mental health SA among shift compared with day workers
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