Sleep-related problems and minor psychiatric disorders among Brazilian shift workers

Common mental disorders in Brazilian female shift workers: prevalence and associated factors

This study aimed to identify the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMD) and associated factors in female shift workers. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 450 female workers, aged 18 years or older (± 36.1 years), from an industry located in Southern Brazil. CMD was assessed using the self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20 ≥ 8 points), and sociodemographic, occupational, behavioral, morbidity, and self-rated health characteristics were assessed using a questionnaire survey. The prevalence of CMD was 47.3% (95% CI: 42.6-52.1). After adjusting, female workers with black/brown race/skin color had a 22% higher probability of CMD than white workers (prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.01-1.49), and workers with sleep disorders or poor sleep quality were 147% more likely to have CMD compared with those with good sleep quality (PR = 2.47; 95% CI: 1.70-3.58), and workers with fair/poor self-rated health were twice as likely to have CMD (PR = 2.00; 95% CI: 1.43-2.80) compared to those with excellent/very good self-rated health. A high prevalence of CMD was observed in female shift workers, especially in workers with a black/brown race/skin color and with poor sleep quality and self-rated health.

Joint effects of self-reported sleep and modifiable physical activity on risk of dyslipidaemia in women aged 45-55 years: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

Modifiable physical activity (PA) plays an important role in dyslipidaemia risk in middle-aged women with sleep problems, especially perimenopausal women. We aimed to explore the joint effects of sleep and PA on the risk of dyslipidaemia in women aged 45-55 years, and the extent to which PA moderated the effect of sleep on the risk of dyslipidaemia.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTING

This study was based on the survey of Chronic Disease and Nutrition Monitoring in Adults in Inner Mongolia in 2015.

PARTICIPANTS

721 women aged 45-55 years were included.

OUTCOME MEASUREMENT

PA was measured by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Sleep was measured by questionnaire formulated by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the joint effects of sleep and PA on dyslipidaemia risk. OR and 95% CI were reported.

RESULTS

Among all participants, 60.6% had sleep problems, 29.0% had low PA and 41.1% had dyslipidaemia. Women with sleep problems had higher dyslipidaemia risk than women without sleep problems, irrespective of low, moderate or high PA, with OR (95% CI) of 4.24 (2.40 to 7.49), 3.14 (1.80 to 5.49) and 2.04 (1.20 to 3.48), respectively. PA could not completely attenuate the negative association between sleep and dyslipidaemia risk. With PA increased from low to high, the OR of dyslipidaemia decreased by 2.20. Women with sleep problems and low PA had higher risks of high total cholesterol, high triglyceride, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol than women without sleep problems and high PA, with OR (95% CI) of 2.51 (1.18 to 5.35), 2.42 (1.23 to 4.74), 2.88 (1.44 to 5.74) and 2.52 (1.12 to 5.70), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Among women aged 45-55 years, the joint effects of self-reported sleep and PA on dyslipidaemia risk were more marked for sleep than for PA. Modifiable PA is a widely accessible and effective intervention to reduce the dyslipidaemia risk in women with sleep problems, particularly among perimenopausal women.

Relationship of work-related stress with obesity among Brazilian female shift workers

OBJECTIVES

To explore the relationship between work-related stress and obesity among female shift workers. Additionally, we also aimed to test the interaction between shift work and work-related stress in this association.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was conducted among Brazilian female shift workers. Work-related stress was assessed through a demand-control questionnaire (Job Stress Scale). Work-related stress was defined by the presence of high psychological demands and low control at work. The obesity cases were defined as those with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or more. Multivariate Poisson regression with robust variance was used to obtain the prevalence ratios (PR) and their respective 95 % CI.

SETTING

A group of industries located in southern Brazil in 2017.

PARTICIPANTS

Four hundred and twenty female workers aged 18-59 years.

RESULTS

The overall prevalence of obesity was 30 % (95 % CI: 25·6, 34·4), and the presence of work-related stress was identified in 24 % (95 % CI: 19·9, 28·1) of the sample. We found an indication of interaction between work-related stress and night shift work on obesity (P = 0·026). After adjusting for confounding factors, work-related stress was associated with a 71 % greater probability of obesity (PR = 1·71; 95 % CI: 1·02, 2·87; P = 0·042) among female night shift workers.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we revealed that exposure to work-related stress and night shift work were associated with obesity among female shift workers. Furthermore, the prevalence of obesity was high among female shift workers.

The Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI): validity, reliability and association with depressive symptoms and sleep-related outcomes

Objective

To translate the Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) to Brazilian Portuguese, to describe its psychometric properties and to show its association with sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, risk for sleep apnea and depressive symptoms.

Methods

Thirty subjects participated in the cultural adaptation and the item clarity evaluation. Twenty subjects answered the instrument in three different time-points for test-retest reliability. Eighty adult workers completed the SHI, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the STOP-BANG (S-B).

Results

SHI shows an acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.75), as well as a high reproducibility (intraclass correlation=0.972, p<0.01). The three final factors of confirmatory factor analysis extract an average of 48.22% of the total sample variance. Worse sleep hygiene (higher SHI score) correlated with poor sleep quality (r=0.398, p<0.001), excessive daytime sleepiness (r=0.406, p<0.001) and depressive symptoms (r=0.324, p=0.003). No correlations with S-B were found.

Conclusions

SHI presents satisfactory-to-optimal psychometric properties. This instrument is useful for treatment planning and management of sleep hygiene practices. Thus, it represents a reliable way of assessing sleep hygiene quantitatively in both research and clinical settings.

Shiftwork and Biomarkers of Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease: The BCOPS Study

OBJECTIVE

To assess the association of shiftwork with biomarkers of subclinical cardiovascular disease and examine the moderating role of body mass index (BMI) in a police cohort.

METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted among officers who were categorized as working the day, evening, or night shift. Comparisons with inflammatory biomarkers were performed among shifts using analysis of variance/covariance and further stratified by BMI to assess potential effect modification.

RESULTS

Associations were observed between day and night shiftworkers for leukocytes, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and homocysteine. After BMI stratification, higher c-reactive protein (CRP) levels were observed among evening shiftworkers with a BMI more than or equal to 30 kg/m versus the day shift.

CONCLUSIONS

Future studies examining prospective changes in these markers will allow for more comprehensive evaluation of their association with shiftwork.