Journal Article

Night shift work exposure profile and obesity: Baseline results from a Chinese night shift worker cohort

Li, Mengjie, Xie, Shaohua, Feng, Wenting, Wong, Samuel Y. S., Evans, Greg, Vlaanderen, Jelle, Sun, Miaomiao, Vermeulen, Roel, Zhang, Liuzhuo, Wang, Feng, Li, Zhimin, Tse, Gary, He, Yonghua, Wong, Martin C. S., Zhang, Bo, Tang, Jin-ling, Tse, Lap Ah, Wu, Zijun, Fok, Joan P. C.

2018

Overview

This study aimed to evaluate the associations between types of night shift work and different indices of obesity using the baseline information from a prospective cohort study of night shift workers in China. A total of 3,871 workers from five companies were recruited from the baseline survey. A structured self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect the participants' demographic information, lifetime working history, and lifestyle habits. Participants were grouped into rotating, permanent and irregular night shift work groups. Anthropometric parameters were assessed by healthcare professionals. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between night shift work and different indices of obesity. Night shift workers had increased risk of overweight and obesity, and odds ratios (ORs) were 1.17 (95% CI, 0.97-1.41) and 1.27 (95% CI, 0.74-2.18), respectively. Abdominal obesity had a significant but marginal association with night shift work (OR = 1.20, 95% CI, 1.01-1.43). A positive gradient between the number of years of night shift work and overweight or abdominal obesity was observed. Permanent night shift work showed the highest odds of being overweight (OR = 3.94, 95% CI, 1.40-11.03) and having increased abdominal obesity (OR = 3.34, 95% CI, 1.19-9.37). Irregular night shift work was also significantly associated with overweight (OR = 1.56, 95% CI, 1.13-2.14), but its association with abdominal obesity was borderline (OR = 1.26, 95% CI, 0.94-1.69). By contrast, the association between rotating night shift work and these parameters was not significant. Permanent and irregular night shift work were more likely to be associated with overweight or abdominal obesity than rotating night shift work. These associations need to be verified in prospective cohort studies.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Alcohol use / Anthropometry / Biology and Life Sciences / Body mass index / Body weight / China - epidemiology / Circadian rhythm / Cohort Studies / Cross-Sectional Studies / Demographics / Disease prevention / Exercise / Female / Health care / Health risk assessment / Humans / Job stress / Laboratories / Male / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine and Health Sciences / Metabolism / Middle Aged / Night shifts / Nighttime / Nuclear power plants / Obesity / Obesity, Abdominal - epidemiology / Obesity, Abdominal - etiology / Occupational exposure / Occupational Exposure - adverse effects / Overweight / Parameters / Primary care / Public health / Regression analysis / Regression models / Rotation / Shift work / Shift Work Schedule - adverse effects / Social Sciences / Software / Studies / Workers / Working conditions