SafetyInsights.org

Another holiday mini-post (it’s a Festivus miracle!).

This is following the theme on fatigue and sleep disruptions. This study looked at the relationship between shift length, sleep and disabling low back pain.

Data was via an online survey from >5k workers (survey…yeah yeah I know)

Results below – no pretty graphs here, unfortunately.

OR = odds ratios. These and the 95% CI (confidence intervals) are the interesting data. An OR of 1 is no change/difference in risk, less than 1 is less risk and over 1 is elevated risk.

Key findings were that night shifts >16 hr durations were significantly associated with the likelihood of disabling low back pain (LBP). This effect was amplified when participants reported sleep problems.

Further:

·        Greater disabling LBP was associated with sleep durations of <6 hr

·        Greater LBP incident when symptoms of insomnia

·        Odds ratios for disabling LBP were also greater for permanent day group and the 16 h or longer night shift groups

·        Similar results were seen for early morning awakening

·        Significantly elevated ORs were also found in shift groups working at night for less than 10 hr when they reported frequent nocturnal awakenings

·        These data highlight the importance of considering sleep problems in disabling LPB

·        Difficulty maintaining sleep may be a critical potentiating factor for disabling LBP among shift workers

·        Despite higher social support among people working >16 hr, this wasn’t enough to alleviate the disabling LPB symptoms

Finally, while this is a survey study (which have important limitations and considerations), other data from a prospective non-survey design found similar odds ratios on the links with good/poor sleep on back pain (ORs of between 1.5 to 3).

Source:

Takahashi, M., Matsudaira, K., & Shimazu, A. (2015). Disabling low back pain associated with night shift duration: sleep problems as a potentiator. American journal of industrial medicine, 58(12), 1300-1310.

Link to the LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/benhutchinson2_another-holiday-mini-post-its-a-festivus-activity-7015486939311087616-TQOE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop