Obesity (Silver Spring)

Objective:

To investigate associations between maternal rotating night shift work history before pregnancy and number of night shifts worked as nurses during pregnancy and offspring early-life through adolescence weight outcomes.

Methods:

Over 4,000 children, enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study 2 between 2004 and 2013, and their mothers participating in the Nurses Health Study 2 were included in our analyses.

Results:

Children of women who worked rotating night shifts before pregnancy were similar in birth weight and body size at age 5 compared to children of women without any night shift work before pregnancy. However, they had a modestly elevated risk of having overweight or obesity (relative risk (RR)=1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02, 1.21), which was stronger for persistently having overweight or obesity during adolescence and early adulthood. Longer duration of rotating night shift work was not associated with any of these weight outcomes. Weight outcomes of children of women with versus without night shift work during pregnancy were similar, regardless of frequency of night shifts worked during pregnancy (all Ptrend>0.09).

Conclusions:

Overall, nurses’ night shift work before or during pregnancy did not affect offspring weight outcomes. Future larger studies should explore these associations in more detail.

30226007

PMC6146398

Journal Article

CDC Public Access