Screening tool helps identify health and safety impacts of shift work on individual workers

An international team of sleep researchers has developed the world’s first screening tool to help reduce workplace accidents and illnesses, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, caused by shift work.

Published in the journal Sleep, the new tool will enable health professionals and industry to better understand individual vulnerability to the health and safety impacts of shift work.

This screening questionnaire for a condition known as shift work disorder (SWD) has been developed by researchers from Monash University, and US partners, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Henry Ford Hospital.

At least 15 per cent of workers in Australia, the US, and the United Kingdom, and around 23 per cent of workers in Japan are estimated to work outside normal hours, causing significant disruption to their natural sleep-wake schedules. SWD, characterised by extreme sleepiness and/or insomnia, is thought to affect around 10 per cent of shift workers.

Associate Professor Shantha Rajaratnam, of Monash and Harvard University, said the prevalence of shift work has been unknown due to the lack of accurate assessment tools.

"Shift work is a reality of modern economies, but research has shown that there are very real health risks associated with working outside regular hours," Associate Professor Rajaratnam said.

"Aside from associated health problems, shift workers are significantly more at risk of workplace injuries. The workers most affected by sleep disruption - those with SWD - account for a significant proportion of this risk and need to be identified."

Shift work, especially overnight, is associated with a higher rate of car crashes, industrial accidents, actual and near-miss injuries and quality-control errors on the job.

Secondary health problems linked with shift work include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases and mood disorders, including depression.

"This questionnaire is an important step in better understanding causes of vulnerability to shift work, and targeting interventions to those who most need them," Associate Professor Rajaratnam said.

"However, this is only a first step and further tests of actual impairment from lack of sleep must be developed for implementation in occupational settings."

"More collaboration between researchers, industry and government partners is needed to tackle these significant challenges and make shift work as safe and productive as possible."

Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

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Hospital noises affect patient sleep and cardiovascular function: Study

Sleep is an important part of the healing process,
and hospital noises may be disturbing: Experts

Apart from direct patient care, researchers have become aware of the importance of the environment when it comes to patient recovery in hospitals.

One critical component is a peaceful space for a patient to get enough sleep.

Unfortunately, many hospital patients’ sleep may be interrupted by certain noises in a common hospital setting, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) Massachusetts General Hospital and Cambridge Health Alliance found in a study.

They warn that such sleep disruption can negatively affect brain activity and cardiovascular function.

Sleep is important for restoration and healing, they say, but many hospitals and urban sleep environments are increasingly noise-polluted.

Electronic noises most disturbing

The study took place in a sleep lab with 12 healthy volunteers who participated for three nights, sleeping one night without interruption and the other nights being presented with recorded sounds that are commonly heard in hospital settings.

The sounds included an intravenous alarm, telephone, ice machine, voices in the hall, outside traffic and a helicopter, which were presented at increasing decibel levels during specific sleep stages.

Not surprisingly, louder noises were more likely to disrupt sleep, but electronic noises were most disturbing, even at low volumes.

Cardiovascular function was affected because even subtle sleep disruptions temporarily elevated heart rates, which could be worrying for vulnerable populations when occurring repeatedly during hospital stays, they warn.

The study is published online in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Source: Brigham and Women’s Hospital

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