The Relationship between Shift Work and Depressive Symptom

Abstract

Background: The number of shift workers has progressively increased with increasing social needs. Shift work (especially night shift) is known to negatively affect workers’ health and well-being. We aimed to compare shift and non-shift workers in terms of depressive symptoms and related factors. Methods: Data were obtained from the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2013. Of the 994 participants, 357 were women (all standard workers aged ≥19 years). Based on the information provided by a self-administered questionnaire, subjects were categorized according to work schedule (shift/non-shift). Differences in general characteristics (sociodemographic/health/work factors) between shift and non-shift workers were assessed using the t-test, chi-square test, linear-by-linear association, and Fisher exact test. To evaluate the factors that affect depression, a logistic regression analysis was performed for the general characteristic parameters. Results: Shift workers (9.5%) had higher incidence of depressive symptoms over 2 weeks than the non-shift workers (4.6%; P=0.024). The factors that affected depression were sex (female: odds ratio [OR], 2.94; P=0.001), stress perception (yes: OR, 3.43; P<0.001), suicidal ideation (yes: OR, 15.25; P<0.001), sleep duration (<7 hours/day: OR, 2.16; P=0.021), and occupation class (manual: OR, 2.20; P=0.048) in all subjects. Conclusion: Shift work had a negative effect on workers in terms of depressive symptoms. Shift workers faced harsher conditions than the non-shift workers. Female-sex, stress, suicide ideation, lack of sleep, and manual work were associated with higher depressive symptoms among the workers. Therefore, the working environment should be improved to prevent these depression triggers.