The Negative Impact of Night Shifts on Diet in Emergency Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Despite the consequences of night-shift work, the diet of night-shift workers has not been widely studied. To date, there are no studies related to food intake among emergency healthcare workers (HCWs). We performed a prospective observational study to assess the influence of night work on the diet of emergency HCWs. We monitored 24-h food intake during a day shift and the consecutive night, and during night work and the daytime beforehand. We analyzed 184 emergency HCWs’ food intakes. Emergency HCWs had 14.7% lower (−206 kcal) of their 24-h energy intake during night shifts compared to their day-shift colleagues (1606.7 ± 748.2 vs. 1400.4 ± 708.3 kcal, p = 0.049) and a 16.7% decrease in water consumption (1451.4 ± 496.8 vs. 1208.3 ± 513.9 mL/day, p = 0.010). Compared to day shifts, night-shift had 8.7% lower carbohydrates, 17.6% proteins, and 18.7% lipids. During the night shift the proportion of emergency HCWs who did not drink for 4 h, 8 h and 12 h increased by 20.5%, 17.5%, and 9.1%, respectively. For those who did not eat for 4 h, 8 h and 12 h increased by 46.8%, 27.7%, and 17.7%, respectively. A night shift has a huge negative impact on both the amount and quality of nutrients consumed by emergency healthcare workers.

The Impact of Job-Demand-Control-Support on Leptin and Ghrelin as Biomarkers of Stress in Emergency Healthcare Workers

“…Exclusion criteria were refusal to participate and pregnancy. This study was part of the SEEK protocol [ 2 , 32 , 34 ]. We obtained ethical approval from the French Ethics Committee South-East I with reference DC-2014-2151, and the protocol was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02401607.…”

“…Salivary sampling was collected at the beginning of a dayshift and at the end of a nightshift, i.e., between 7:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. for both conditions. Furthermore, food intake was monitored twice over 24 consecutive hours: (1) during a day shift (from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.) + the night after (no work, 6:30 p.m. to 8.30 a.m.), and (2) during a rest day before (from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.) and a night shift (6:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.) [ 2 ]. Participants also had to complete a questionnaire collecting their level of stress using the JDCS model of Karasek [ 6 ] and sociodemographic data ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…We next used Nutrilog ® (Nutrilog, version 3.2), a diet and nutrition software for health care professionals, to translate participants’ answers on nutrient intake using a nutrition table Ciqual based on this software. We calculated total energy intake (kcal), carbohydrates, lipids, proteins (grams and % energy intake), and water consumption in milliliters (mL) [ 2 ]. Participants also had to complete a questionnaire about their sociodemographics (age, gender, marital status, kids at home, tobacco) and work situation (occupation, seniority).…”

“…Stress at work is a major public health concern. This is especially true among healthcare workers (HCWs) and even more concerning in the Emergency Departments (ED) due to shifting work, fatigue and lack of sleep [ 1 ], poor food intake [ 2 ], and life-threatening emergencies in the context of overcrowding and job demands [ 3 , 4 ]. Currently, the best scale to assess stress levels at work is the job-demand-control-support model (JDCS), a self-reported psychological questionnaire created and validated by Karasek in 1981 [ 5 , 6 ].…”

“…Indeed, HCWs work under stressful conditions such as overcrowding—lack of beds in hospitals [ 3 ], life-threatening emergencies [ 33 ], the wait for possible disasters [ 34 ] all having consequences on the biomarkers of stress [ 31 , 35 ]. Furthermore, the night shift has a bad influence on water consumption and food intake among emergency HCWs, in both quantity and quality [ 2 ]. To date, no studies have assessed the influence of night work and stress on the levels of nutrition biomarkers among emergency HCWs, nor in relation to their occupational characteristics.…”