Medycyna pracyFeb 5, 2013

Night Work and Health in Nurses and Midwives

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗

Updated Mar 29, 2026

Abstract

The prevalence of chronic back pain, hypertension, and thyroid diseases was reported at 47.2%, 24.5%, and 21.2% respectively among nurses and midwives.

No statistically significant increased relative risk of diseases was found among night shift nurses compared to day shift nurses.
The duration of working night shifts was associated with nearly a twofold increase in the relative risk of thyroid diseases for women working 15 or more years.
Women with 8 or more night duties per month had more than eight times higher relative risk of feet swelling compared to those with fewer night shifts.
Findings may be influenced by the 'Healthy Worker Effect,' suggesting that healthier individuals are more likely to remain in employment.

Simplified

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the association between night shift work and the prevalence of diseases and conditions among nurses and midwives.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 725 subjects (354 working on night shifts and 371 working only during the day). The data were collected via an interview based on the "Standard Shiftwork Index". We analyzed the frequency of diseases and conditions and the relative risk expressed as the odds ratio (adjusted for important confounding factors).

RESULTS: The most common diseases in the study population were chronic back pain (47.2%), hypertension (24.5%) and thyroid diseases (21.2%). We found no statistically significant increased relative risk of any diseases and conditions among the night shift nurses, compared to the day shift ones. The duration of the work performed on night shifts was significantly associated with the relative risk of thyroid diseases--increased almost two times in the women working for 15 or more years in such system (p for trend: 0.031). The analysis showed the significantly increased (more than eight times higher) relative risk of feet swelling in the women with 8 or more night duties per month, compared to the women having fewer night shifts.

CONCLUSIONS: We did not observe a higher frequency of diseases in the night shift nurses, compared to the day shift nurses. These results may be related to the so-called "Healthy Worker Effect". There is a need for further long-term observational studies in the populations of nurses.

Night Work and Health in Nurses and Midwives

Abstract

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