Objective This systematic review aimed to evaluate the association between shift work and eating habits. Methods The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (number 42015024680). PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for published reports. Of 2432 identified articles, 33 observational studies met the inclusion criteria. Their methodological approaches were assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Data were extracted using a standardized form. Studies were considered to have a low or a high risk of bias according to a percentage score of quality. Results The majority of the studies presented a quality score of <70% and a high risk of bias for comparability, sample selection and non-respondents. Shift workers show changes in meal patterns, skipping more meals and consuming more food at unconventional times. They also show higher consumption of unhealthy foods, such as saturated fats and soft drinks. Conclusions This review suggests that shift work can affect the quality of workers' diets, but new studies, especially longitudinal studies, which examine the time of exposure to shift work, the duration of the workday and sleep patterns, are necessary to confirm this association.

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The objectives were to analyze the prevalence of arterial hypertension reported by Brazilian adults over 20 years of age and verify associated socioeconomic variables in three time periods. The data are from the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 1998 (196,439 participants), 2003 (231,921), and 2008 (250,664). The outcome was self-reported arterial hypertension. The principal exposures were income in Reais and schooling in years. Data analysis used Poisson regression with robust variance with control for complex samples. Higher prevalence of arterial hypertension was associated with lower schooling, regardless of the survey year and gender. Low income was associated with higher prevalence of arterial hypertension, regardless of years of schooling, in the overall sample and in women. In men, this effect was not observed in 1998 and 2003. In 2008, high-income men showed higher prevalence of arterial hypertension, suggesting effect modification. Thus, the current study pointed to an increase in prevalence rates for arterial hypertension in the three periods, highlighting the inverse association with socioeconomic factors.

The authors examined the associations of shiftwork with overweight and abdominal obesity through a cross-sectional study of 1206 employees 18 to 50 yrs of age who were working on a production line in a poultry processing plant. Night-shift workers (n = 800) were considered exposed, whereas day shiftworkers (n = 406) were considered nonexposed. Overweight was defined as a body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m(2) and abdominal obesity as a waist circumference ≥ 88 cm in women and ≥ 102 cm in men. The mean age of the workers was 30.5 yrs (standard deviation = 8.7 yrs), and 65.2% were women. Nightshift workers compared to dayshift workers showed higher prevalences of overweight (42.2% vs. 34.3%; p= .020) and abdominal obesity (24.9% vs. 19.5%; p = .037). After adjusting for sociodemographics, parental overweight status, behavioral characteristics, and sleep characteristics, including hours of sleep, the prevalence ratios for overweight and abdominal obesity were 1.27 (95% confidence interval [ CI]: 1.00-1.61) and 1.45 (95% CI: 1.10-1.92), respectively, for the nightshift workers compared to the dayshift workers. A consistent finding in our study was the independent contribution of night shiftwork to overweight and abdominal obesity among Brazilian workers. Further studies are needed to understand the biological mechanisms involved and the complex behavioral and social adaptations experienced by night-shift workers.