• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.512-517
• /
• 2019

Background: Rest breaks at work are reported to reduce fatigue and job stress. Apartment janitors in Korea who perform night shift work and work long hours can be exposed to various health problems (HPs). However, few studies have evaluated relationships between their rest breaks and HPs. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between long working hours, shift work, and insufficient rest breaks and HPs among Korean apartment janitors. Methods: Data on 1,212 selected male apartment janitors were obtained from the 3rd and 4th Korean Working Conditions Surveys. Demographic and occupational characteristics were collected using self-reported questionnaires. Rest breaks at work were classified as "sufficient" or "insufficient." Long working hours were considered as working more than 60 hours per week. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression was performed to investigate the effects of shift work and long working hours on HPs and the effects of rest breaks on relationships between HPs and long working hours and shift work. Results: Among those with insufficient rest breaks at work, significant associations were found between long working hours and the risk of HPs [odds ratio (OR) = 1.489; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.038-2.136] and work-related HPs (WRHPs) [OR 1.621; 95% CI = 1.156-2.272], and between shift work and HPs [OR = 1.603; 95% CI = 1.084-2.372]. These relationships became nonsignificant when sufficient rest breaks were provided. Conclusion: It is important to provide breaks at work to reduce HPs because of long working hours and shift work among aged workers such as apartment janitors.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.102-109
• /
• 2024

Background: In today's modern world, longer working hours, shift work, and working at night have become major causes of the disruption of our natural circadian rhythms. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the type of shift work (rotating vs. fixed day), duty period (on-duty vs. off-duty), and working period within each shift (nighttime vs. daytime) on the circadian rhythm characteristics of nurses who provide direct patient care. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a purposive sampling method. Cosinor analysis was applied to analyze the actigraphy data of nurses providing direct patient care for seven consecutive days. The linear mixed effects model was then used to determine any variances between shift type, duty period, and working period within each shift for the nurses. Results: The mesor value did not differ according to nurses' shift type, duty period, and working period within each shift. The amplitude was statistically higher in on-duty nurses and in daytime working hours. The acrophase was significantly delayed in nighttime working hours. As well as nurses in rotating shift had experience. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that the peak activity of nurses occurs significantly later at night while working and nurses working during nighttime hours may have a weaker or less distinct circadian rhythm. Thus, this study suggests that limits be placed on the number of rotating nighttime shifts for nurses.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Epidemiological evidence linking long working hours and shift work to metabolic syndrome remains inadequate. We sought to evaluate the impact of reducing working hours on metabolic syndrome. Methods: We compared the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among male manual workers in a manufacturing company (N = 371) before and after the introduction of policy to reduce daily work hours from 10 to 8 hours. Components of metabolic syndrome were measured in periodic health examinations before the intervention, 6-9 months after, and 1.5-2 years after the intervention. Generalized estimating equation models were used to estimate changes in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Analyses were stratified by day work versus shift work. Results: The results showed a significantly decreased prevalence of metabolic syndrome 6-9 months following the intervention in day workers (risk ratio = 0.68, 95% confidence interval 0.52-0.88), but the benefit disappeared after 1.5-2 years. Shift workers showed a decreased prevalence of metabolic syndrome for the whole follow-up duration after the intervention, although the change was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Reducing working hours was associated with short-term improvement in metabolic syndrome in male manual workers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.32-39
• /
• 2007

Purpose: This study is conducted to compare and analyse the health status and job satisfaction of nurses. Method: The subjects were a group of 90 nurses on fixed day nurse and the other group of 100nurses on night nurse. The collected data were analysed by using the SPSS WIN(10.0) program for descriptive statistics, t-test, ${\chi}^2-test$, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Result: There was a significant difference according to years in services. In nurses on day shift, there was a inverse correlation between the health status and job satisfaction. And in nurses on day shift, job satisfaction levels differed significantly depending on personality, satisfaction to pay, and current health status. In nurses on night shift, nurses' job satisfaction levels differed significantly depending satisfaction to pay. Conclusion: It was confirmed that health of nurses is greatly affected by shift work. so, it is very important to maintain and promote their health status in nurses on night shift. We must find out the factors that greatly affect health of nurses, and continuously make an effort to improve the working environment.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.390-395
• /
• 2021

Background: Health-care providers typically undergo shift work and are subjected to increased stress. Night shift work may induce disturbed sleep cycles and circadian rhythm. The objective of this study was to explore if night shift workers (NSWs) show an increased risk of abnormal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 574 employees without thyroid disease and abnormal TSH at baseline who underwent annual check-ups between 2007 and 2016 in a medical center. NSWs were defined as those with working time schedules other than daytime hours. We calculated the incidence rate and estimated the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for incident abnormal TSH and subclinical hypothyroidism compared with non-NSWs using a Cox regression model. Results: A total of 56 incident abnormal TSH cases and 39 subclinical hypothyroidism cases in NSWs were identified during 3000 person-years of follow-up. In models adjusted for age, sex, obesity, and working departments, we found no increased relative risk for incident abnormal TSH (HR: 0.72, 95% confidence interval: 0.33-1.60) or subclinical hypothyroidism (HR: 0.52, 95% confidence interval: 0.19-1.45) when comparing NSWs to non-NSWs; nor were incidence rates significantly different among exclusively medical employees after excluding administrative staff. Conclusion: In this hospital-based nine-year follow-up retrospective cohort study, NSWs were not associated with increased relative risk of incident abnormal TSH and subclinical hypothyroidism, in contrast to previous cross-sectional studies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.126-133
• /
• 2023

Objectives: This study was conducted to find out the prevalence and risk factors of anemia according to shift work. Methods: Data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey (2016-2020) were used. 9,787 workers were divided into shift workers and non-shift workers. The work type between 6AM-6PM was defined as day work, and other work types were defined as shift work. A chi-square test was used to indicate the distribution of risk factors expected to affect shift work in both frequency and percentage. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to find out the relationship between anemia prevalence and shift work. Results: As a result of analysis, multiple logistic regression analysis of anemia prevalence and shift work, the OR (95% CI) of male workers on shift work was 2.186 (1.139 to 4.194) and there was a statistically significant difference. Conclusions: In conclusion, anemia in male shift workers should be considered a possibility of health problems. In the future, research based on various data collection should be conducted for research to reveal various causes or diseases of anemia in the future.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.203-209
• /
• 2018

Background: Night shift work is associated with many problems such as sleep deprivation, sleepiness, decreased cognitive performance, increased human errors, and fatigue. This study set out to measure cognitive performance, melatonin rhythms, and sleep after different consecutive night shifts (7 vs. 4) among control room operators (CORs). Methods: The participants included 60 CORs with a mean age of 30.2 years (standard deviation, 2.0) from a petrochemical complex located in Southern Iran. Cognitive performance was assessed using the n-back task and continuous performance test. To evaluate melatonin, saliva was collected and tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. To assess sleep and sleepiness, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Karolinska Sleepiness Scale were used, respectively. Results: Individuals who worked 7 consecutive night shifts had a significantly better cognitive performance and sleep quality than those who worked 4 consecutive night shifts. However, salivary melatonin profile and sleepiness trend were not affected by shift type. Conclusion: The main duty of CORs working night shifts at the studied industry included managing safety-critical processes through complex displays; a responsibility that demands good cognitive performance and alertness. It is suggested that an appropriate number of consecutive night shifts in a rotating shift system should be planned with the ultimate aim of improving CROs performance/alertness and enhancing safety.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.135-144
• /
• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze and clarify the concept of shift work maladaptation syndrome and to facilitate development of interventions for the shift work adaptation. Methods: This study used Walker and Avant's concept analysis process. Results: Shift work maladaptation syndrome can be defined as the following attributes: 1) destruction of the circadian rhythm, 2) existence of a threshold, 3) individual characteristics (year of career, type of personality, and type of coping) 4) somatization, and 5) negative emotional conditions. The antecedents of shift work maladaptation syndrome consist of counterclockwise shift work, irregular shift cycle, night work which is breaking circadian rhythm, and lifestyle changing. The consequences as a result of shift work maladaptation syndrome are deterioration of health (gastrointestinal, neuro-psychic, cardiovascular function), reduction of social relationships, and turnover or resign. Conclusion: The results of this study can be useful as the foundation of shift work adaptation implementation.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.41-47
• /
• 2002

Objectives: In a number of simulated night shift studies, timed exposure to bright light improves sleep quality and work performance. We evaluated the effect of bright light on adaptation to night shift work with a field study. Methods: Five female nurses working shifts at Korea University Hospital were recruited for participation in this study. We investigated two series of six consecutive shift rotations comprising three day and three night shifts, using wrist Actigraphy, the Stanford Sleepiness Scale, Visual-analogue scales, STIM and tympanic membrane temperature for daytime sleep quality, alertness, subjective feeling, attention performance, and temperature rhythm. The subjects were exposed to bright light (2,500 lux) from 24:00 to 04:00 a.m. on three consecutive night shifts during the second series, whereas they worked under normal lightening (650 lux) conditions during the first series. Results: Actigraphic assessment of daytime sleep showed no significant difference between the first and third night shift in both baseline and light exposure phase. The mean lowest temperature shifted earlier during baseline phase but not during the light exposure phase. Also, the score for subjective feelings of depression, anxiety, physical discomfort and sleepiness was significantly higher in the third night shift than the first during baseline phase but not during the light exposure phase. Attention and attention switching ability was significantly improved in the third night shift compared to the first night during the light exposure phase but there were no significant changes during the baseline phase. Conclusion: This result suggests that there were no significant differences between the two phases in measures of quality of daytime sleep, but subjective feelings, attention and alertness were enhanced during light exposure. Although some placebo effects and learning effects might influence this result, bright light exposure between midnight and 4:00 a.m. may improve adaptation to night shift. In future, further controlled studies with a larger sample size, including melatonin measurement, are needed for real shift workers.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.47-58
• /
• 1989

This study was undertaken to investigate whether the stress caused by day/night shifts on industrial workers can be affected through nutritional status. A sample of 573 female industrial workers, aged 17 through 23 years, from 4 different industries (2 in normal, 2 in 3 shift work pattern) were surveyed by questionaire examining their nutritional status, food intake, dietary habit, sleep complaint, performance of digestive organs, and degree of fatigue. Shift workers were surveyed during night work. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Sleep complaints and degree of fatigue in shift workers were higher than normal workers, whereas the performance of digestive organs were as lower than normal workers. These results showed that shift workers were more stressed than normal workers. 2. The workers who were surveyed were all poor in nutritional status. The intakes of calorie, protein, Ca, riboflavin, and ascorbic acid were lower than Korean Recommanded Dietary Allowences (RDA). Dietary habit of the shift workers was irregular. 3. There was a negative correlation between nutritional status and degrss of fatigue. The intakes of energy nutrients, ascorbic acid, and niain were significantly related to the degree of fatigue in which protein intake was found to be most influential. Among workers with the same level of protein intake, shift workers showed higher degree of fatigue. When the protein intake of shift workers was 100-125% of R.D.A., they showed the same degree of fatigue to the average normal workers.