Regular Daytime Work Research Articles

The Effect of Sleep Quality and Mental Fatigue on the Learning Rate of Shift Workers with Fast Shift Work Rotation.

Modern industrial societies are always prone to errors and accidents due to complex devices, multitasking, and shift work jobs. Therefore, behavioral tests in learning and memory are necessary to evaluate employees' perceptions to examine the brain's information processing and the physiological and psychological aspects of memory disorders. In this study, the effect of fast shift rotation, sleep quality, and mental fatigue on individuals' learning and memory was investigated using a maze device. Participants were divided into two groups (regular daytime workers and shift workers). The quality of sleep was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the rate of mental fatigue was evaluated using a checklist published by the Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association. Learning time and the number of learning errors at the beginning and end of the morning shifts and night shifts had a significant relationship (P value <0.0001). However, there was no meaningful relationship between sleep quality and time and the number of learning errors in day workers and shift workers. The results indicated that although shift workers experience rapid shift rotation, they are still exposed to this circadian sleep change's side effects such as general physical fatigue, sensory-neurological fatigue, poor perceived sleep quality, daily dysfunction, difficulty in learning, and memory. They show a significant difference compared to people working on a regular workday.

Occupational determinants of physical activity at work: Evidence from wearable accelerometer in 2005–2006 NHANES

Occupation determines workers' physical activity (PA) in the workplace, an important health behavior contributing to health outcomes. However, self-reported measure limits our understanding of how occupational tasks differentiate workers' PA in terms of the type, frequency, intensity, and duration. In addition, accurate estimation of occupation-based PA during workers' actual working hours requires precise work schedule information. To address these limitations, this study employs data on accelerometer-monitored PA and work schedule from the 2005–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). It asks two questions: How do occupations determine PA among regular daytime workers in the United States? Second, how large a share of PA difference between two occupations is attributable to differences in the implicit occupational tasks, relative to workers’ demographic, health preconditions, and socioeconomic attributes? Calculating PA during the 9-to-5 period among daytime regular workers on weekdays and conducting Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis, we yield insights into the occupational determinant of both PA volume (total activity counts) and fragmentation (bouts of activities). Worksite health promotion can utilize the objective occupation-PA link and design occupation-tailored interventions, which is currently underdeveloped in the United States. Moreover, our findings shed light on the physical nature of occupation, suggesting a fruitful step to reconcile the documented mixed findings on occupation-based PA and health outcomes in future studies.

Associations between sleep duration, shift work, and infectious illness in the United States: Data from the National Health Interview Survey

ObjectiveInsufficient sleep and circadian disruption have been linked to immune system dysregulation. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between self-reported sleep duration and work schedule with reports of head and chest colds among adults 18 years and older in the United States. MethodsAssociations between self-reported habitual sleep duration and work schedule (regular daytime, regular evening, regular nighttime, rotating, other) with reports head and chest colds in the past 2 weeks were examined using data from the 2010 and 2015 National Health Interview Survey. Adults who slept 7-8 hours or reported a regular daytime work schedule were considered the reference group. Multivariate logistic regressions, incorporating sampling weights, were computed adjusting for sociodemographic and health characteristics. ResultsAnalyses revealed in fully adjusted models that compared to 7- 8 hours sleepers, those sleeping 5 or fewer hours were 44% more likely to report a cold (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29-1.61) while those sleeping 9 or more hours were 20% more likely (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.06-1.36). Participants who reported a rotating work schedule were 20% more likely to report a cold (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.07-1.36) than those reporting a regular daytime work schedule. ConclusionsShort and long sleep duration, as well as a rotating shift work schedule, were associated with increased reports of head and chest colds in a nationally representative sample of US adults. Sleep and circadian function may serve as relevant targets to reduce susceptibility to infectious illness.

Do depression and its associated factors differ in women daytime and shift workers?: an analysis of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2018.

PurposeThis study examined health behaviors, use of health services, and depression among women who perform daytime and shift work in Korea, as well as factors related to depression.MethodsWe conducted a secondary analysis using data from the 2018 data of the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Data on women, 1,493 regular daytime workers and 322 shift workers, were analyzed.ResultsWomen shift workers were younger (χ2=43.97, p<.001), had a lower education level (χ2=45.56, p<.001), and lower personal income (χ2=16.85, p=.030) than their daytime counterparts. A higher proportion of shift workers were unmarried (χ2=37.47, p<.001) and they typically worked fewer than 40 hours per week (χ2=69.94, p<.001). The depression score of shift workers was higher than that of daytime workers (t=2.85, p=.005). A higher proportion of shift workers also drank alcohol (χ2=6.49, p=.032) and smoked (χ2=30.79, p<.001). Over 8% of shift workers typically slept fewer than 5 hours per night (χ2=14.17, p=.024). It was confirmed that depression in women shift workers was affected by age, personal income, marital status, health status, and smoking status, in addition to cancer screening participation, unmet medical care needs, and unmet dental care needs.Conclusion More attention should be given to the health needs of women working shifts. Health promotion programs specific for women shift workers are needed to improve their physical and mental health, encourage use of medical care services, and improve public health policies and systems.

The relation of work-related factors with ambulatory blood pressure and nocturnal blood pressure dipping among aging workers

ObjectivesIndividuals with reduced nocturnal blood pressure (BP) dipping are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease compared to persons with normal BP dipping. Although the relation of work-related factors and BP has been studied extensively, very little is known of the association between work-related factors and 24-h BP patterns in aging workers. We examined the cross-sectional relation of work-related risk factors, including occupational status, work-time mode, job demands and job control, with ambulatory BP in aging workers, focusing on nocturnal BP dipping.Methods208 workers (mean age 62 ± 3 years; 75% women) from two Finnish population-based cohort studies underwent 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring. Work-related factors were inquired using a questionnaire. Nocturnal BP dipping was calculated as [1 − (asleep BP/awake BP)] × 100.ResultsShift workers demonstrated a higher nocturnal diastolic BP dipping than regular day workers (19% vs. 17%, p = 0.03) and had a significantly higher systolic awake BP than regular day workers (136.5 mmHg vs. 132.5 mmHg, p = 0.03). Participants with high job demands demonstrated a smaller nocturnal systolic BP dipping than participants with low job demands (14% vs. 16%, p = 0.04). We did not observe significant differences in nocturnal systolic or diastolic BP dipping between groups categorized by occupational status or job control.ConclusionsAlthough shift workers have a higher daytime BP than regular daytime workers, they exhibit greater nighttime BP dipping. Participants with high job demand had smaller nighttime BP dipping than participants with low job demand. Job control or occupation did not affect the 24-h ambulatory BP profile of aging workers.

A randomized controlled intervention of workplace-based group cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia

PurposeSleep disturbance is common in the working population, often associated with work stress, health complaints and impaired work performance. This study evaluated a group intervention at work, based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia, and the moderating effects of burnout scores at baseline.MethodsThis is a randomized controlled intervention with a waiting list control group. Participants were employees working at least 75% of full time, reporting self-perceived regular sleep problems. Data were collected at baseline, post-intervention and at a 3-month follow-up through diaries, wrist-actigraphy and questionnaires including the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ). Fifty-one participants (63% women) completed data collections.ResultsA multilevel mixed model showed no significant differences between groups for sleep over time, while there was a significant effect on insomnia symptoms when excluding participants working shifts (N = 11) from the analysis (p = 0.044). Moreover, a moderating effect of baseline-levels of burnout scores was observed on insomnia symptoms (p = 0.009). A post-hoc analysis showed that individuals in the intervention group with low burnout scores at baseline (SMBQ < 3.75) displayed significantly reduced ISI scores at follow-up, compared to individuals with high burnout scores at baseline (p = 0.005).ConclusionsGroup CBT for insomnia given at the workplace did not reduce sleep problems looking at the group as a whole, while it was indicated that the intervention reduced insomnia in employees with regular daytime work. The results also suggest that workplace-based group CBT may improve sleep in employees with primary insomnia if not concomitant with high burnout scores.

Differential Impact of Sleep Duration on Fasting Plasma Glucose Level According to Work Timing

To quantify the differential contribution of sleep duration on fasting plasma glucose level by traditional regular daytime work and shift work in subjects without diabetes. Self-reported sleep duration and work type and timing were determined in a cross-sectional sample of 9123 participants aged 20-65years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2010-2015. Those who responded that they worked between 6 am and 6 pm were classified as "traditional regular daytime workers; "those who worked in the afternoon, at night, or in several typesof shift work were classified as "shift workers." FBG was compared between short (<6h), "normal" (6-8), and long (>8h) sleep duration groups according to work time. In the traditional daytime workers group, mean FBG level showed a U-shaped trend according to sleep duration (p=0.027), whereas in shift workers group, FBG level was significantly decreased across sleep duration (p=0.001). In the regular daytime workers group, short sleep duration was associated with higher FBG (B, 95% [CI]: 1.33 [0.26-2.4]), whereas after adjustment for potential confounding variables, long sleep duration significantly increased the risk of higher FBG (2.01 [0.35-3.68]). On the other hand, the reverse was true in the shift workers. Long sleep duration was significantly associated with lower FBG by both unadjusted analysis and after multivariable adjustment (-3.79 [-5.97 to -1.62], -2.19 [-4.35 to -0.03], respectively). Our results suggest that the impact of sleep duration on FBG level differs according to work shift.

Breast cancer screening among shift workers: a nationwide population-based survey in Korea.

We aimed to examine the association between shift work types and participation in breast cancer screening (BCS) programs by comparing rates of participation for BCS among regular daytime workers and alternative shift workers using data from a nationally representative, population-based survey conducted in Korea. In addition, the results were analyzed according to sociodemographic factors, including occupation, education, income, private health insurance, age, and number of working hours a week. This secondary cross-sectional analysis used data from the 2012 Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. The target population included women aged≥40years who responded as to whether they had undergone BCS in the previous year. Accordingly, we analyzed survey data for a total of 1,193 women and used a multivariate logistic regression analysis to evaluate the differences in factors affecting BCS between regular daytime and alternative shift workers. A logistic regression analysis was performed considering private health insurance as a significant sociodemographic factor for BCS among regular daytime shift workers. In contrast, none of the tested variables could significantly predict adherence to BCS among alternative shift workers. The results of this study suggest the need for the development of comprehensive workplace breast cancer prevention programs by considering shift work types. More attention should be given to female workers with low education levels, those who are uninsured, and young workers to improve the participation rate for BCS at the workplace.

Case Report: A wolf in another wolf’s clothing: point-of-care ultrasound in a patient with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Patients often present to hospital, and to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in particular, in situations that render them unable to provide an accurate (or any) clinical history to facilitate diagnosis. These patients also typically have multiple, serious medical co-morbidities, which further makes diagnosing and initiating an appropriate treatment difficult. Furthermore, the investigations performed to optimally diagnose acute critical medical conditions are often only possible in remote locations in the hospital or only available during regular daytime work hours, both of which are a concern with critically ill patients.

사업장 근로자의 구강건강신념과 구강보건교육 인식에 관한 조사연구

Objectives : A survey was conducted to investigate oral health belief and education awareness of oral health of workers in the workplace and to obtain the basic data necessary to promote their oral health and design an oral health education program. Methods : This study conducted a self-administered survey. Results : The following conclusion was made. For oral health beliefs based on the type of work that the workers did, workers in production and technical services had more benefits than those in other fields(security, guard, etc.), and workers on night duty had more oral health hygiene problems than that of regular day-time workers. The longer the period of service was, the more sensitive and serious the workers were and the less beneficial the work was; workers working for eight hours or less had higher levels of importance than those working for ten hours. They were well aware of the need for oral health education but were less aware of the need for an oral health room. Conclusions : It is necessary to emphasize oral health beliefs when developing an oral health education program that promotes oral health for workers in the workplace. If an oral health education program attempts to reflect the concerns of workers in the workplace and provides preferred contents and methods on oral health education, the program is expected to promote the active and positive participation of the workers.

Risk for Work-Related Fatigue Among the Employees on Semiconductor Manufacturing Lines

To examine the potential risk factors for work-related fatigue (WRF) among workers in modern industries, the authors analyzed the records of need-for-recovery questionnaires and health checkup results for 1545 employees. Compared with regular daytime workers, and after adjusting for confounders, the workers adapting to day-and-night rotating shift work (RSW) had a 4.0-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.7-5.9) increased risk for WRF, higher than the 2.2-fold risk (95% CI = 1.5-3.3) for persistent shift workers. Based on highest education level, the male employees with university degrees had the highest adjusted odds ratio (a-OR) 2.8 (95% CI = 1.0-7.8) for complaining of WRF versus compulsory education group. For female workers, currently married/cohabiting status was inversely associated with WRF (a-OR = 0.5; 95% CI = 0.2-0.9), and child-rearing responsibility moderately increased WRF risk (a-OR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.0-3.7). Day-and-night RSW and the adaptation, educational levels of males, and domestic factors for females contributed to WRF among semiconductor manufacturing employees.

Morning Cortisol Levels and Perceived Stress in Irregular Shift Workers Compared with Regular Daytime Workers

The 24/7 work environment and irregular shifts may markedly enhance the psychological pressure of media work. Changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reflect adaptation to stress. We analysed the correlation between subjective stress, sleep, salivary cortisol, and melatonin hormones among Finnish media workers with regular daytime work (RDW) and with irregular shift work (ISW) while controlling confounders. From 874 employees with regular daytime work or with irregular shift work, 70 employees from both groups were randomly selected. The final number of employees with a complete salivary cortisol profile was 66 in the RDW group and 65 in the ISW group. Five saliva samples were gathered from each subject before and during a working day. The salivary cortisol level of the sample taken 60 minutes after awakening (T1) was compared to the salivary cortisol level taken immediately after awakening (T0, T1/T0 ratio). The ratio was higher in the ISW group than in RDW group. Irregular shift work (P < 0.001), severe stress (P < 0.05), and less sleep (P < 0.05) were independently associated with an augmented cortisol response after awakening. A stressful work environment and irregular shift work enhance cortisol excretion after waking. In the long run, this may become detrimental to health.

Work-related fatigue among workers on semiconductor manufacturing lines

ObjectivesTo examine potential risk factors for work-related fatigue among the apparently healthy workers on semiconductors production lines.MethodsThe data, including general health check-up records, need for recovery after work (NFR) scale...

A shift scheduling model for employees with different seniority levels and an application in healthcare

This paper addresses the problem of scheduling medical residents that arises in different clinical settings of a hospital. The residents are grouped according to different seniority levels that are specified by the number of years spent in residency training. It is required from the residents to participate in the delivery of patient care services directly by working weekday and weekend day shifts in addition to their regular daytime work. A monthly shift schedule is prepared to determine the shift duties of each resident considering shift coverage requirements, seniority-based workload rules, and resident work preferences. Due to the large number of constraints often conflicting, a multi-objective programming model has been proposed to automate the schedule generation process. The model is implemented on a real case in the pulmonary unit of a local hospital for a 6-month period using sequential and weighted methods. The results indicate that high quality solutions can be obtained within a few seconds compared to the manually prepared schedules expending considerable effort and time. It is also shown that the employed weighting procedure based on seniority levels performs much better compared to the preemptive method in terms of computational burden.

Associations of reported bruxism with insomnia and insufficient sleep symptoms among media personnel with or without irregular shift work

BackgroundThe aims were to investigate the prevalence of perceived sleep quality and insufficient sleep complaints, and to analyze whether self-reported bruxism was associated with perceptions of sleep, and awake consequences of disturbed sleep, while controlling confounding factors relative to poor sleep.MethodsA standardized questionnaire was mailed to all employees of the Finnish Broadcasting Company with irregular shift work (n = 750) and to an equal number of randomly selected controls in the same company with regular eight-hour daytime work.ResultsThe response rate in the irregular shift work group was 82.3% (56.6% men) and in the regular daytime work group 34.3% (46.7% men). Self-reported bruxism occurred frequently (often or continually) in 10.6% of all subjects. Altogether 16.8% reported difficulties initiating sleep (DIS), 43.6% disrupted sleep (DS), and 10.3% early morning awakenings (EMA). The corresponding figures for non-restorative sleep (NRS), tiredness, and sleep deprivation (SLD) were 36.2%, 26.1%, and 23.7%, respectively. According to logistic regression, female gender was a significant independent factor for all insomnia symptoms, and older age for DS and EMA. Frequent bruxism was significantly associated with DIS (p = 0.019) and DS (p = 0.021). Dissatisfaction with current work shift schedule and frequent bruxism were both significant independent factors for all variables describing insufficient sleep consequences.ConclusionSelf-reported bruxism may indicate sleep problems and their adherent awake consequences in non-patient populations.

A multi-objective programming model for scheduling emergency medicine residents

Scheduling emergency medicine residents (EMRs) is a complex task, which considers a large number of rules (often conflicting) related to various aspects such as limits on the number of consecutive work hours, number of day and night shifts that should be worked by each resident, resident staffing requirements according to seniority levels for the day and night shifts, restrictions on the number of consecutive day and night shifts assigned, vacation periods, weekend off requests, and fair distribution of responsibilities among the residents. Emergency rooms (ERs) are stressful workplaces, and in addition shift work is well-known to be more demanding than regular daytime work. For this reason, preparing schedules that suit the working rules for EMRs is especially important for reducing the negative impact on shift workers physiologically, psychologically, and socially. In this paper, we present a goal programming (GP) model that accommodates both hard and soft constraints for a monthly planning horizon. The hard constraints should be adhered to strictly, whereas the soft constraints can be violated when necessary. The relative importance values of the soft constraints have been computed by the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), which are used as coefficients of the deviations from the soft constraints in the objective function. The model has been tested in the ER of a major local university hospital. The main conclusions of the study are that problems of realistic size can be solved quickly and the generated schedules have very high qualities compared to the manually prepared schedules, which require a lot of effort and time from the chief resident who is responsible for this duty.

Perceived orofacial pain and its associations with reported bruxism and insomnia symptoms in media personnel with or without irregular shift work

A standardized questionnaire was mailed to all employees of the Finnish Broadcasting Company with irregular shift work (n=750) and to an equal number of randomly selected controls in the same company with regular 8-hour daytime work. The aims were to investigate the prevalence and severity of perceived orofacial pain (Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders Axis II) and to analyze whether current orofacial pain was associated with reported bruxism and insomnia symptoms (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–IV and the International Classification of Sleep Disorders Revised). The response rate in the irregular shift-work group was 82.3% (56.6% men) and in the regular daytime-work group 34.3% (46.7% men). Current orofacial pain was found overall in 19.6%, of which 88.3% had experienced the pain over 6 months. All claimed that their pain fluctuated. No subjects with chronic orofacial pain reported disabling pain, and grades III and IV were not found. Insomnia symptoms and frequent bruxism were significantly more prevalent in chronic pain grade II than in lower grades. According to logistic regression, current orofacial pain was significantly positively associated with frequent bruxism (p<0.001), female gender (p<0.001), and disrupted sleep (p<0.01), and significantly negatively associated with age over 45 years (p<0.01). Our results revealed a clear-cut association between perceived orofacial pain and reported bruxism. The association held with both chronic orofacial pain intensity and current pain. Based on the multivariate analyses, it can be concluded that disrupted sleep and bruxism may be concomitantly involved in the development of orofacial pain.

Reported bruxism and restless legs syndrome in media personnel with or without irregular shift work

A standardized questionnaire was mailed to all employees of the Finnish Broadcasting Company with irregular shift work (n=750) and to an equal number of randomly selected controls in the same company with regular 8-h daytime work. The questionnaire covered demographic items, employment details, general health experience, physical status, psychosocial status, stress, work satisfaction and performance, tobacco use, bruxism, and restless legs symptoms (RLS). The aim was to investigate among a multiprofessional media personnel the associations between reported bruxism and RLS, while simultaneously controlling the effects of gender, age, tobacco use, shift work, and dissatisfaction with current workshift schedule. The overall response rate was 58.3% (53.7% men). The response rate in the irregular shift work group was 82.3% (56.6% men) and in the regular daytime work group 34.3% (46.7% men). In the bivariate analyses, RLS was more prevalent in workers at either end of the studied age range (p<0.05). Self-reported frequent bruxism was significantly associated with younger age (p<0.05). Females reported RLS (11.4%) slightly more often than males (7.7%) (NS). In logistic regression, frequent bruxism (p<0.05) and older age (p<0.05) were significantly positively associated with RLS. Dissatisfaction with one's current workshift schedule (p<0.05) and RLS (p<0.05) were significantly positively associated with frequent bruxism, while age (p<0.05) was significantly negatively associated. In conclusion, perceived bruxism may be a sign of a stressful situation or dissatisfaction, while RLS as a more stable trait may in itself negatively affect sleep quality and further enhance the problem.

Reported bruxism and stress experience in media personnel with or without irregular shift work

A standardized questionnaire was mailed to all employees of the Finnish Broadcasting Company with irregular shift work (n = 750) and to an equal number of randomly selected controls with regular 8‐hour daytime work. The aim was to analyze whether irregular shift work, workload in terms of weekly working hours, dissatisfaction with current workshift schedule, health‐care use, age and gender were associated with self‐reported bruxism and experienced stress. The response rates were 58.3% (n = 874, 53.7% men) overall, 82.3% (n = 617, 56.6% men) for irregular shift workers and 34.3% (n = 257, 46.7% men) for the regular daytime work group. Those with irregular shifts were more often dissatisfied with their current workshift schedule than those in daytime work (25.1% versus 5.1%, P < 0.01). Irregular shift work was significantly associated with more frequent stress (P < 0.001), but not with self‐reported bruxism. Workers dissatisfied with their current schedule reported both bruxism (P < 0.01) and stress (P < 0.001) more often than those who felt satisfied. In multivariate analyses, frequent bruxism was significantly associated with dissatisfaction with current workshift schedule (P < 0.05), number of dental visits (P < 0.05), and visits to a physician (P < 0.01), and negatively associated with age (P < 0.05), while severe stress was significantly positively associated with number of visits to a physician (P < 0.001). It was concluded that dissatisfaction with one's workshift schedule and not merely irregular shift work may aggravate stress and bruxism.

Abatement of tropospheric ozone: effects of strategies to improve air quality on public health and other sectors

The National Health and Medical Research Council's air quality goal for ozone in the troposphere (near the earth's surface) is 0.12 parts per million (ppm), averaged over one hour, similar to the United States standard, but less stringent than the guideline for Europe. We aimed to identify the environmental, economic and social changes that would be associated with changing the goal. Methods included literature review, economic assessments and group interviews. The group to benefit from lower exposures may include outdoor workers, school children and people not in regular day-time work indoors, because ozone is most prevalent during the daylight hours of the warmer months. A lower level could improve the yield of some crops. The causes and effects of tropospheric ozone are not appreciated except among groups with relevant commercial, industrial or scientific experience. However, the consultations identified frustration about the social problems caused by dependence on private motor vehicles. Short-term costs of compliance with a more stringent goal would fall principally on the users of transport. The value of the benefits was enough for many to support making the ozone goal more stringent, but those who required a demonstration of financial benefit (even including savings of health care costs) did not support any change to the goal. Based primarily on averted detriment to health, we recommend the more stringent level of 0.08 ppm (one-hour average) as the goal for the year 2005 in Australia and elsewhere. The addition of a goal with longer averaging time is also proposed.