Authors

Antonio José Martínez Salas

Position

Especialista en Enfermería del trabajo. Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía de Córdoba. Servicio Andaluz de Salud. Córdoba (España)

Contact address

Antonio José Martínez Salas. C/ Escritor Jiménez Lora, 51. 14014 Córdoba (España).

Contact email: ajmscordoba@gmail.com

Abstract

Objectives: to present the evidence available regarding shift work and non-communicable diseases associated with nutrition, and to identify the impact on health caused by this type of work, as well as to summarize the most adequate interventions to prevent or treat said conditions.
Method: a narrative review. A search was conducted in the Pubmed, Web of Science and Scopus databases, with the MeSH descriptors: “Shift Work Schedule”, “Rotating Shift Work”, “Night shift work”, “Nutritional Status” and “Nutritional Disorders”. The filters used were chronological (2018-2023) and language (English and Spanish).
Results: twenty-nine (29) articles were selected. All of them coincided in the existence of alterations in the health of workers who conducted shift work, with particular impact on the diet they followed. The main effects were an increase in cardiovascular risk with higher likelihood of suffering metabolic syndrome, an increase in the risk of developing hypertension, and worse glycemic and weight control. In terms of diet interventions, no research articles addressing this matter were found. An intervention was found regarding eight weeks of physical exercise at a gym in the workplace.
Conclusions: shift work was associated with higher cardiovascular risk, mostly due to the fact that these workers followed a worse diet (higher amount of energy ingested, without fixed patterns, abuse of fat and sugar, fibre deficiency, etc.) and did not exercise regularly. Interventions are required in the individual, organizational and collective settings, as well as to delve in research through experimental studies on diet.

Keywords:

Shift work schedule; rotating shift work; night shift work; nutritional status; nutritional disorders

Versión en Español

Título:

Trabajo a turnos y enfermedades no transmisibles relacionadas con la nutrición