Night shift work has well-known adverse effects on health. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between thyroid diseases and night shift work. This study aimed to examine night shift workers and their changes in thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH) levels over time.
Medical check-up data (2011–2015) were obtained from 967 female workers at a university hospital in Incheon, Korea. Data regarding TSH levels were extracted from the records, and 2015 was used as a reference point to determine night shift work status. The relationships between TSH levels and night shift work in each year were analyzed using the general linear model (GLM). The generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to evaluate the repeated measurements over the 5-year period.
The GEE analysis revealed that from 2011 to 2015, night shift workers had TSH levels that were 0.303 mIU/L higher than the levels of non-night shift workers (95 % CI: 0.087–0.519 mIU/L,
This result of this study suggests that night shift workers may have an increased risk of thyroid diseases, compared to non-night shift workers.
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Worldwide, exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) has been responsible for more than 0.6 million deaths and 10.9 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYS) lost in never smokers in 2004. The world health organization (WHO) reported smoking-related death of 58,000 per year in South Korea. There is recent emerging evidence of the associations of SHS exposure with anxiety or depression and poor mental health. Although exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) has been associated with various physical health conditions and mental health, we are unaware of any studies examining its association with psychological well-being as mental factor. This study aimed to investigate the association between self-reported exposure to SHS and well-being among non-smoking wageworkers.
The Third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS, 2011) was conducted on a representative sample of economically active population aged 15 years or over, who were either employees or self-employed at the time of interview. In this study, after removing inconsistent data, 19,879 non-smoking wageworkers among 60,054 workers were participated. Psychological well-being was measured through the WHO-Five Well-Being Index (1998 version). Univariate and multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the association of SHS exposure with psychological well-being.
The unadjusted OR of poor psychological well-being (OR: 1.594, 95 % CI: 1.421-1.787) was significantly higher for SHS exposure group compared to non-exposure group. Multiple logistic regression analysis results indicated that these relationships were still significant after adjusting for potential confounders (adjusted OR: 1.330, 95 % CI: 1.178-1.502).
Exposure to SHS was associated with poor well-being measured by the WHO-5 well-being index, indicating the importance of reducing SHS exposure at the workplace for psychological well-being amongst non-smoking wageworkers.
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