Atypical work hours, sleep duration, and the metabolic syndrome: a study of police officers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Burchfiel CM ; Fededulgen D ; Hartley TA ; Mnatsakanova A ; Violanti JM
• Description:
  Background and aims: Working atypical hours has been shown to have adverse effects on health outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine whether working such hours is associated with metabolic syndrome among police officers and whether this association is influenced by sleep duration. Methods: A sample of 115 Buffalo, NY police officers was randomly selected. Shift work and overtime data were obtained from daily payroll records. Officers were categorized as working a day, afternoon or midnight shift based on the highest percent of hours worked on each of these shifts from 1994-2000. Sleep duration was measured as the average hours of sleep each day for the past seven days. Dichotomous variables were created using median sleep duration (< 6 vs. > 6 hours/day) and overtime (< 1.7 vs. > 1.7 hours/week). Metabolic syndrome was defined using five components based on standard criteria: abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, reduced HDL cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, and elevated fasting glucose levels. 98 officers had complete data. Unadjusted and adjusted mean number of metabolic syndrome components and p-values for differences across three levels of shift work were determined using ANOVA and ANCOVA models. Multivariable models included adjustment for age, gender, education, marital status, smoking, drinking, physical activity and police rank. Results: Officers working midnight shifts tended to have a slightly higher mean number of metabolic syndrome components compared to those who worked day or afternoon shifts (gender-adjusted mean = 1.51 vs. 1.15 and 1.12, respectively). Adjustment for gender and age (mean = 1.62 vs. 1.04 and 1.20) and multivariable adjustment (mean = 1.48 vs. 0.79 and 1.00) had minimal impact on the results. Stratification on sleep duration and overtime revealed statistically significant associations between midnight shifts and the mean number of metabolic syndrome components for both unadjusted and covariate-adjusted models among officers who had less sleep (p = 0.013) and worked more overtime (p = 0.007). Discussion and conclusions: Results suggest that shorter sleep duration and more overtime combined with night shift work may be important contributors to the metabolic syndrome. These factors may provide useful targets for prevention. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Energy Metabolism Law Enforcement Occupational Health Safety Shift Work Schedule Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders
• Keywords:
  Law Enforcement Workers Metabolic Effects Metabolism Models Police Officers Shift Work Sleep Deprivation Sleep Disorders Statistical Analysis
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  65
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048344
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2008 Sep; 65(9)(Suppl):178 Tu-P-49
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine. EPICOH 2008
• Supplement:
  Suppl
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1207f751497af02ba149eb1299fa0c0de9edffc4b6155b3e342009b27d9221feed93f9d403db55da2e1ab41f87799c2f97826021d62e880097fe0a6801f37b37
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203113/cdc_203113_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 45.73 KB ]