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ABSTRACT: Background: We explored the association between work schedules involving night-shifts and selected measures of health and whether these associations differed among those working in either 3-or 4-shift cycles.
Methods: Employees at a German industrial company who worked on a fixed daytime schedule or on one involving nightshifts were invited to participate in this cross-sectional study. Work schedules involving a nightshift were organized into either 3 or 4 shifts rotated anti-clockwise on a weekly basis. Health characteristics included a range of clinical and physiological measures and self-reported data on stress and sleep quality. We assessed the independent association of work schedules involving any nightshift and these health characteristics in separate regression analyses, adjusting for age, gender, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
Results: Nightshift work (N=133) in general and 3-shift-work (N=53) in particular was associated with decreased sleep quality (P < 0.001). Compared to those working daytime (N=632), employees working on a 3-shift cycle had higher adjusted odds of meeting the definition of metabolic syndrome (OR 2.56 [1.38, 4.75]). Employees working 4-shift cycles were somewhat less likely to have metabolic syndrome (OR 1.22 [0.73, 2.05]) and had higher parasympathetic activity measured by heart rate variability (OR 2.20 [1.04, 4.63]).
Conclusions: Our data suggest important relationships between shift schedule and a selected group of objective and subjective health measures. Additional research that further clarifies potential mechanisms underlying these relationships is needed.
American Journal of Industrial Medicine 01/2013; · 1.63 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: PURPOSE: The objective of the present study was to validate a German 11-item organizational justice questionnaire (G-OJQ) that consists of two subscales, referred to as "procedural justice" (PJ) and "interactional justice" (IJ) adapted from Moorman's organizational justice (OJ) questionnaire. A second objective was to determine associations of the G-OJQ with self-rated health. METHODS: This study used cross-sectional data from an occupational cohort of 1518 factory workers from Germany (87.7 % male; mean age = 38.8 with SD = 11.9). After splitting the sample in two random subsamples, we assessed structural validity by exploratory factor analyses in one subsample and by confirmatory factor analysis in the other subsample. Internal validity was assessed by Cronbach's α. Associations with self-reported poor health were estimated by logistic regression. RESULTS: The full scale and its subscales yielded Cronbach's α's of ≥0.9, and item-total correlations were ≥0.5. Factor analyses confirmed the expected 2-factor structure, labeled "interactional justice" (IJ, 4 items, λ 0.43-0.94) and "procedural justice" (PJ, 7 items, λ 0.46-0.83), respectively, and showed an acceptable fit to the data (χ (2) = 61; p = .001; CFI = 0.995; RMSEA = 0.037). The OJ total score as well as subscale scores in the lowest quartile, when compared to the highest quartile, was associated with an ≥2.3 increased odds of reporting poor health. CONCLUSION: The G-OJQ seems to be a valid and useful tool for observational and intervention studies in occupational settings. Future studies may additionally explore longitudinal associations and test the generalizability of the present findings to other populations and health outcomes.
Archiv für Gewerbepathologie und Gewerbehygiene 12/2012; · 1.89 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Diabetes is rapidly rising globally, and the relation of psychosocial stress in workplace to diabetes and prediabetes is not well investigated. PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to examine the association of work stress with diabetes and prediabetes in a sample of German industrial workers.
METHOD: In this cross-sectional survey of an occupational cohort (n = 2,674, 77% male), work stress was measured by the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire. Diabetic status, i.e., diabetes and prediabetes, were diagnosed by glycated hemoglobin A1c criterion or fasting plasma glucose criterion supplemented by self-reports.
RESULTS: The overall prevalence rates of diabetes and prediabetes were 3.5 and 42.2 %, respectively. Using ordinal logistic regression with adjustment for potential confounding factors, high ERI at work was associated with diabetes-related ordinal variable (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; 95 % confidence interval [95 % CI], 1.02-1.58) and prediabetes-related ordinal variable (OR, 1.26; 95 % CI, 1.01-1.58) in men, whereas the associations in women were somewhat less pronounced and did not reach statistical significance.
CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that work stress in terms of ERI is associated with diabetes and prediabetes in German industrial male workers. If supported by prospective evidence, results point to a new approach towards primary prevention of diabetes.
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 08/2012; · 2.63 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between heart rate variability (HRV) and glycemic status after controlling for metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a healthy working cohort. BACKGROUND: A growing body of literature suggests that reduced HRV, a physiological marker of autonomic nervous system activity, is associated with various pathological conditions including glycemic disorders and cardiovascular diseases. The extent to which this association is confounded by other more traditional markers of cardiovascular risk, such as MetS, is unclear.
METHODS: We recruited 2441 study participants (age 17-65) employed at three sites of an airplane manufacturing plant in southern Germany. All subjects underwent medical examination, blood sampling, and 24-hour ambulatory heart rate recording while on their normal work routine. Indices of HRV were determined from readings made throughout the 24-hour examination period, those during either the day or night only as well as a night to day ratio. Pearson correlations and multivariate-adjusted partial correlation coefficients (PCCs) were calculated.
RESULTS: Pearson correlations suggested inverse associations between HRV measurements and glycemic status (e.g. High frequency r=-0.07, p<0.001; SDNN r=-0.09, p<0.001). After multivariate adjustment of all other components of MetS (triglyceride, blood pressure, waist circumference, high density lipoproteins), medical and demographic variables, these associations persisted (e.g. High frequency PCC=-0.05, p<0.001; SDNN PCC=-0.06, p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: We confirm a negative correlation between HRV and glycemic status that appeared to be almost linear in a large cohort of healthy workers. Importantly, we showed that this association was independent of potential confounders, especially all of the MetS components and inflammation.
International journal of cardiology 03/2012; · 7.08 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: We test the psychometric properties of a short version of the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire in addition to testing an interaction term of this model's main components on health functioning.
A self-administered survey was conducted in a sample of 2,738 industrial workers (77% men with mean age 41.6 years) from a large manufacturing company in Southern Germany. The internal consistency reliability, structural validity, and criterion validity were analyzed.
Satisfactory internal consistencies of the three scales: "Effort", "reward", and "overcommitment", were obtained (Cronbach's alpha coefficients 0.77, 0.82, and 0.83, respectively). Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit of the data with the theoretical structure (AGFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.060). Evidence of criterion validity was demonstrated. Importantly, a significant synergistic interaction effect of ERI and overcommitment on poor mental health functioning was observed (odds ratio 6.74 (95% CI 5.32-8.52); synergy index 1.78 (95% CI 1.25-2.55)).
This short version of the ERI questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for epidemiological research on occupational health.
American Journal of Industrial Medicine 02/2012; 55(9):808-15. · 1.63 Impact Factor
