Abstract
Backgroundprevious studies have indicated on association between shift work and lipid profile disturbances. Lipid profile disturbances could be due to internal desynchronization. The aim of this study was to analyze whether there is relationship between shift work and serum lipids, fasting blood glucose and hypertension.ResultsA total of 424 rail road workers between the ages of 21 and 64 years in this study filled out a questionnaire, and total cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL-C concentration were measured after 12-hours fasting. Association between shift work and biochemical variables and blood pressure were measured. The X2 and fisher's exact test was used for comparing the qualitative variables and for quantitative variables with normal distribution we used the parametric tests. Odds ratio (OR) with the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was used for comparing the proportions of risk variables.Sub-populations in this study were consisting of 158 (37.3%) shift workers and 266 (62.7%) day workers. High levels of total cholesterol (> 200 mg/dl) and LDL-cholesterol (> 130 mg/dl) were significantly more prevalent in nearly all groups of shift workers irrespective of age. But there is no differences in the serum levels of triglyceride, HDL-C, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure between shift workers and day workers.Adjusted Odd's ratio for the effect of shift working on high serum total cholesterol and LDL-C level were 2.11(95%CI: 1.33–3.36) and 1.76(95%CI: 1.09–2.83), respectively.ConclusionThis study showed that high serum total cholesterol and LDL-C level were more common in shift workers than in day workers. This finding persisted after adjustment was made for age and food type. But there was no difference in the prevalence of HDL-C, triglyceride, fasting blood glucose and hypertension between shift working and day working. It was concluded that shift work is a risk factor for lipid profile disturbances.
Highlights
Defined, shift work involves work at times other than normal daylight hours of approximately 7:00 A.M, to 6:00 P.M. because 24-hours operations are an inevitable component of numerous industries, night work or shift work is a necessary condition of employment for a significant segment of the work force
The total cholesterol > 200 mg/dl and LDL-C> 130 mg/dl were more prevalent in shift workers than day workers
The results of relative risk were crude Odds ratio (OR): 2.51 and Adjusted OR: 2.11 for total Cholesterol, crude OR: 1.75 and Adjusted OR: 1.76 for LDL-C, crude OR: 0.75 and Adjusted OR: 0.91 for HDL-C, crude OR: 1.00 and Adjusted OR:1.25 for Triglyceride, crude OR: 1.04 and Adjusted OR: 1.2 for Fasting blood glucose, crude OR: 1.41 and Adjusted OR: 0.73 for Hypertension
Summary
Shift work involves work at times other than normal daylight hours of approximately 7:00 A.M, to 6:00 P.M. because 24-hours operations are an inevitable component of numerous industries, night work or shift work is a necessary condition of employment for a significant segment of the work force. Because of the necessity of 24-hours operations, shift workers often live at variance with the conventional pattern of human activity, which is highest in the day and evening hours. These deviations from the daytime (or diurnal) activity pattern place the shift worker in opposition to many human functions that oscillate within a 24hours period. Physiologic process (e.g. metabolic rate), psychological process (e.g. short term memory), and social process (e.g. family interaction) all have demonstrated rhythmic increases and decreases in daily activity. These patterns are called circadian rhythm because they cycle about once a day. This is labeled internal desynchronizatin [1]
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