Shift Work and Sleep Quality Among Urban Police Officers (original) (raw)

2014, Annals of Epidemiology

Objective-The aim of the study was to examine association of shift work with sleep quality in police officers. Methods-Data were obtained from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress study (n =363). An electronic work history database was used to define shift as day, afternoon, or night for three durations: past month, 1 year, and 15 years. Sleep quality was determined using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results-The overall prevalence of poor sleep quality was 54%; 44% for day, 60% for afternoon, and 69% for night shift. Poor sleep quality was 70% more prevalent among night-shift officers (P <0.001) and 49% higher among those on the afternoon shift (P =0.003) relative to officers working on the day shift. Conclusions-Night and evening work schedules are associated with elevated prevalence of poor sleep quality among police officers. Shift work has increasingly become an integral part of a wide range of occupations especially among first responders (eg, police, firefighters, and emergency services) where there is an obvious need for a 24-hour service. There is growing evidence that links shift work to numerous adverse health outcomes including risk factors for cardiovascular disease, 1-4 metabolic syndrome, 5,6 diabetes, 7 specific types of cancer, 8,9 fatigue, 10 on-duty injury, 11 and autoimmune hypothyroidism. 12 Therefore, shift work, particularly night or rotating shift, has long been considered a significant occupational exposure. The association of shift work with poor sleep quality is also well documented in the literature. Working on night shifts has been associated with insomnia, 13-15 shorter sleep duration, 16-18 day time sleepiness, 14,19 and overall poor sleep quality 16,20-24