TY - JOUR
T1 - Night-shift work is associated with increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection
AU - Loef, Bette
AU - Dollé, Martijn E. T.
AU - Proper, Karin I.
AU - van Baarle, Debbie
AU - Initiative, Lifelines Corona Research
AU - van Kerkhof, Linda W.
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid KV11.16). The funding bodies had no role in the study design, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors wish to acknowledge the services of the Lifelines Cohort study, the contributing research centers delivering data to Lifelines, and all the study participants. The Lifelines initiative has been made possible by subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Groningen University, and the provinces in the north of the Netherlands (Drenthe, Friesland, Groningen). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022/8/1
Y1 - 2022/8/1
N2 - Night-shift workers experience disturbances of their circadian rhythm and sleep, which may make them more susceptible to infectious diseases. Therefore, we studied whether night-shift workers are at higher risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection than day workers. In this prospective study, data were used from 20 questionnaire rounds of the Dutch Lifelines COVID-19 cohort that was initiated in March 2020. In the different questionnaire rounds, 2285 night-shift workers and 23,766 day workers reported whether they had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for demographic, work, and health covariates were used to compare SARS-CoV-2 incidence between night-shift and day workers. From March 2020-January 2021, 3.4% of night-shift workers and 2.2% of day workers reported to have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (p < .001). After adjustment for covariates, night-shift workers had a 37% higher risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (hazard ratio: 1.37, 95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.77). In this study, we show that night-shift workers were more likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 than day workers, which adds to the growing evidence that night-shift work may influence the complex processes involved in infection susceptibility. Further mechanistic insight is needed to understand the relation between night-shift work and (SARS-CoV-2) infection susceptibility.
AB - Night-shift workers experience disturbances of their circadian rhythm and sleep, which may make them more susceptible to infectious diseases. Therefore, we studied whether night-shift workers are at higher risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection than day workers. In this prospective study, data were used from 20 questionnaire rounds of the Dutch Lifelines COVID-19 cohort that was initiated in March 2020. In the different questionnaire rounds, 2285 night-shift workers and 23,766 day workers reported whether they had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for demographic, work, and health covariates were used to compare SARS-CoV-2 incidence between night-shift and day workers. From March 2020-January 2021, 3.4% of night-shift workers and 2.2% of day workers reported to have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (p < .001). After adjustment for covariates, night-shift workers had a 37% higher risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (hazard ratio: 1.37, 95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.77). In this study, we show that night-shift workers were more likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 than day workers, which adds to the growing evidence that night-shift work may influence the complex processes involved in infection susceptibility. Further mechanistic insight is needed to understand the relation between night-shift work and (SARS-CoV-2) infection susceptibility.
KW - COVID-19
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - infection susceptibility
KW - longitudinal study
KW - night-shift work
KW - occupational health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131770571&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2022.2069031
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2022.2069031
M3 - Article
C2 - 35502475
SN - 0742-0528
VL - 39
SP - 1100
EP - 1109
JO - Chronobiology international
JF - Chronobiology international
IS - 8
ER -