Shift work is associated with reduced heart rate variability among men but not women

Feb 14, 2018International journal of cardiology

Shift work is linked to lower heart rate variability in men but not in women

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Abstract

Shift workers showed a lower very low frequency (VLF) heart rate variability parameter of 0.21 compared to day workers.

Shift work was associated with lower heart rate variability (HRV) parameters in men, including RMSSD, SDNN, VLF, and Total Power.
Women showed a different pattern, with shift work primarily associated with a decrease in the LF/HF ratio.
The lower VLF was significant only among non-night shift workers, while night shift workers did not exhibit this difference.
There was a significant interaction by gender in the association between shift work and HRV parameters.

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BACKGROUND: Imbalance in the autonomic nervous system due to a disrupted circadian rhythm may be a cause of shift work-related cardiovascular diseases.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the association between shift work and cardiac autonomic activity in blue-collar workers.

METHODS: The study included 665 blue-collar workers aged 18-68 years in different occupations from two Danish cohort studies. Time and frequency domain parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) were measured during sleep using the Actiheart monitor, and used as markers of cardiac autonomic function. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to investigate differences in HRV between day and shift workers.

RESULTS: Shift workers had no significantly different HRV parameters than day workers, except for a lower VLF (B: 0.21; 95% CI: -0.36-0.05). The lower VLF was only present among non-night shift workers (p < 0.05) and not among night shift workers (p > 0.05). Results differed significantly by gender (p for interaction < 0.10): among men, shift work was negatively associated with RMSSD (B: -7.83; 95% CI: -14.28-1.38), SDNN (B: -7.0; 95% CI: -12.27-1.78), VLF (B: -0.27; 95% CI: -0.46-0.09) and Total Power (B: -0.61; 95% CI: -1.20-0.03), while among women, shift work was only associated with the LF/HF ratio (B: -0.29; 95% CI: -0.54-0.03).

CONCLUSION: Shift work was particularly associated with lower HRV during sleep among men. This indicates that shift work causes imbalance in the autonomic nervous system among men, which might increase their risk of cardiovascular diseases.

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Shift work is associated with reduced heart rate variability among men but not women

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