iScienceAug 1, 2026

Night shift work may lower lung function in coal miners through PER1-related inflammation

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Aug 3, 2026

Abstract

Cumulative night-shift exposure is associated with lower lung function in a study of 9,464 coal miners.

Greater cumulative night-shift exposure correlated with reduced lung function after adjusting for dust exposure.
Mendelian randomization analyses indicated a potential causal relationship between shift work and decreased lung function.
Lower genetically predicted lung function was linked to an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
In coal miners, reduced expression of the gene PER1 partially explained the relationship between night-shift exposure and lung function measures.
Public transcriptomic analyses revealed lower PER1 expression in datasets related to COPD and lung cancer, suggesting a connection to inflammatory signaling.

Simplified

Cumulative night-shift exposure may disrupt circadian homeostasis and adversely relate to respiratory health. In a cross-sectional analysis of 9,464 coal miners, we found that greater cumulative night-shift exposure was associated with lower lung function after accounting for cumulative respirable dust exposure. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a potential causal link between shift work and reduced lung function and further indicated that genetically predicted lower lung function was associated with higher chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) risk. In a coal miner subgroup, lower PER1 expression partly accounted for the associations of cumulative night-shift exposure with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). Public transcriptomic and single-cell analyses showed lower PER1 expression in COPD and lung cancer-related datasets and suggested links to NF-κB-related inflammatory signaling. These findings suggest that PER1-related inflammatory signaling may represent a candidate molecular link between occupational circadian disruption and respiratory health impairment.