Abstract
Energy metabolism is tightly linked with circadian rhythms, exposure to ambient light, sleep/wake, fasting/eating, and rest/activity cycles. External factors, such as shift work, lead to a disruption of these rhythms, often called circadian misalignment. Circadian misalignment has an impact on some physiological markers. However, these proxy measurements do not immediately translate into major clinical health outcomes, as shown by later detrimental health effects of shift work and cardio-metabolic disorders. This review focuses on the effects of shift work on circadian rhythms and its implications in cardio-metabolic disorders and eating patterns. Shift work appears to be a risk factor of overweight, obesity, type 2 diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and the metabolic syndrome. However, past studies showed discordant findings regarding the changes of lipid profile and eating patterns. Most studies were either small and short lab studies, or bigger and longer cohort studies, which could not measure health outcomes in a detailed manner. These two designs explain the heterogeneity of shift schedules, occupations, sample size, and methods across studies. Given the burden of non-communicable diseases and the growing concerns about shift workers’ health, novel approaches to study shift work in real contexts are needed and would allow a better understanding of the interlocked risk factors and potential mechanisms involved in the onset of metabolic disorders.
Highlights
Most of the labor force in Europe work between 08:00 and 19:00 from Monday to Friday, but an increasing number of workers do not follow these office working hours [1]
This review mainly focuses on circadian misalignment induced by shift work and its metabolic effects, and the associated changes in eating patterns
Given the lack of consensus and the heterogeneity of definitions of shift work and studies on the topic, we summarized in Table 1 the characteristics and main outcomes of the studies reviewed in Sections 3 and 4
Summary
Most of the labor force in Europe work between 08:00 and 19:00 from Monday to Friday, but an increasing number of workers do not follow these office working hours [1]. The definitions of shift work vary a lot between surveys and countries, because they are usually based on a local legal definition [1], rather than a scientific background This explains the heterogeneity between study results [1,2]. Given the lack of consensus and the heterogeneity of definitions of shift work and studies on the topic, we summarized in Table 1 the characteristics (study population and design, types and definition of shift work) and main outcomes (cardiometabolic and eating patterns) of the studies reviewed in Sections 3 and 4. This could provide leads for a further standard definition and potential consensus in the field
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