Association between shift work and poor sleep quality in an Asian multi-ethnic working population: A cross-sectional study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 3; p. e0229693
• Main Authors: Thach, Thuan-Quoc, Mahirah, Dhiya, Dunleavy, Gerard, Zhang, Yichi, Nazeha, Nuraini, Rykov, Yuri, Nah, Audrey, Roberts, Adam Charles, Christopoulos, George I, Soh, Chee-Kiong, Car, Josip
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04.03.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Asian People; Biology and Life Sciences; Cardiovascular disease; Cross-Sectional Studies; Efficiency; Employees; Ethnicity; Exercise; Female; Females; Health promotion; Health sciences; Humans; Labor force; Logistic Models; Male; Males; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Minority & ethnic groups; Occupational health; Odds Ratio; Participation; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Population; Population studies; Prevalence; Quality; Shift work; Shift Work Schedule - adverse effects; Shift Work Schedule - psychology; Singapore - epidemiology; Sleep; Sleep Wake Disorders - epidemiology; Sleep Wake Disorders - etiology; Sleep Wake Disorders - physiopathology; Social Sciences; Sociodemographics; Surveys and Questionnaires; Workers; Working conditions; Young Adult; Singapore
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229693

We aimed to examine the association between shift work and sleep quality in a diverse occupational type. This was a cross-sectional study of self-reported sleep quality in 424 workers aged ≥21 using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We divided workers into two categories based on their PSQI score: (a) ≤5 (good sleep quality) and (b) >5 (poor sleep quality). We used multiple logistic regressions to assess the association between shift work and sleep quality adjusted for potential confounders. The mean age was 39.2 (SD = 11.3) years, with shift workers being older than their counterparts. Most workers were of Chinese ethnicity (63.9%). Males were significantly more likely to undertake shift work than females (89% v 11%, p-value<0.001), but it should be noted that the majority of workers was male (78.8%) in this sample of workers. Shift workers had a 198% increased odds of poor sleep quality compared to non-shift workers (OR = 2.98; 95% CI:1.53-5.81). Shift work was significantly and independently associated with increased odds of poor sleep quality in this sample of workers. The present findings may inform employment guidelines and help develop workplace health promotion interventions aimed at improving sleep quality among workers and ultimately lead to a healthier workforce.