Shift workers more likely to develop obesity, diabetes: study

People who work shifts outside of a nine-to-five schedule are more likely to be overweight and experience sleep-related health problems, a U.S. study said Monday.

These people are also more likely to develop metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, compared to workers following traditional work schedules, according to the study published in the U.S. journal Sleep Health.

Shift work employees are particularly vulnerable to experiencing sleep problems as their jobs require them to work night, flex, extended, or rotating shifts," lead investigator Marjory Givens, associate scientist of the University of Wisconsin explained in a statement.

The investigators used data from a population-based health examination survey that includes home- and clinic-based interviews and physical examinations between 2008 and 2012.

In this analysis, 1,593 participants were assessed using measures from the physical examination to calculate body mass index and determine obesity or overweight status.

Type-2 diabetes was assessed in 1,400 subjects using either a self-reported physician diagnosis or by the presence of glycated hemoglobin in the blood at levels of 6.5 percent or higher at the physical examination.

The results showed that shift workers were significantly more likely than traditional schedule workers to be overweight, at 47.9 percent and 34.7 percent, respectively.

Shift workers also experienced more sleep problems such as insomnia (23.6 percent vs. 16.3 percent), insufficient sleep (53.0 percent vs. 42.9 percent), or excessive wake-time sleepiness (31.8 percent vs. 24.4 percent).

Givens and her colleagues found that experiencing sleep problems was positively associated with being overweight or diabetic.

Moreover, even though sleep problems did not fully explain the relation between shift work and overweight or diabetes, these association appeared to be stronger among shift workers who were not able to obtain sufficient sleep, defined as less than seven hours per day.

"This study adds to a growing body of literature calling attention to the metabolic health burden commonly experienced by shift workers and suggests that obtaining sufficient sleep could lessen this burden," Givens added. Endite