Shift workers like those in long-term care are at greater risk for depression and anxiety, a study of more than 175,000 people found.
Over the course of nine years, researchers looked at how often people worked shifts, the type of shift they worked, and how many years they worked shifts. They found a higher risk of depression and anxiety was positively associated with shift frequency. They did not find a difference in risk whether the person worked nights or days.
Results in JAMA Network Open also suggested the associations of shift work with anxiety and depression may be partly explained by smoking, sleep duration and body mass index (BMI). Those factors made up 31% of the link between shift work and depression and 21% of the association between shift work and anxiety.
From the October 2023 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
